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INDIA’S UNFINISHED AGENDA:

EQUALITY AND JUSTICE FOR 200 MILLION

VICTIMS OF THE CASTE SYSTEM

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HUMAN 

RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON 

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

OCTOBER 6, 2005

Serial No. 109–102

Printed for the use of the Committee on International Relations

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.house.gov/international—relations 

(II)

COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 

HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois, Chairman 

JAMES A. LEACH, Iowa 

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, 

Vice Chairman 

DAN BURTON, Indiana 

ELTON GALLEGLY, California 

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

EDWARD R. ROYCE, California 

PETER T. KING, New York 

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio 

THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado 

RON PAUL, Texas 

DARRELL ISSA, California 

JEFF FLAKE, Arizona 

JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia 

MARK GREEN, Wisconsin 

JERRY WELLER, Illinois 

MIKE PENCE, Indiana 

THADDEUS G. MCCOTTER, Michigan 

KATHERINE HARRIS, Florida 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina 

JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas 

J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina 

CONNIE MACK, Florida 

JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska 

MICHAEL MCCAUL, Texas 

TED POE, Texas 

TOM LANTOS, California 

HOWARD L. BERMAN, California 

GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York 

ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American 

Samoa 

DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey 

ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey 

SHERROD BROWN, Ohio 

BRAD SHERMAN, California 

ROBERT WEXLER, Florida 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

BARBARA LEE, California 

JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York 

EARL BLUMENAUER, Oregon 

SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada 

GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California 

ADAM B. SCHIFF, California 

DIANE E. WATSON, California 

ADAM SMITH, Washington 

BETTY MCCOLLUM, Minnesota 

BEN CHANDLER, Kentucky 

DENNIS A. CARDOZA, California 

THOMAS E. MOONEY, SR., Staff Director/General Counsel 

ROBERT R. KING, Democratic Staff Director 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL

OPERATIONS

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, Chairman 

THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado 

JEFF FLAKE, Arizona 

MARK GREEN, Wisconsin 

JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas 

JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska 

EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, 

Vice Chairman 

DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey 

BARBARA LEE, California 

BETTY MCCOLLUM, Minnesota 

BRAD SHERMAN, California 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

DIANE E. WATSON, California 

MARY M. NOONAN, Subcommittee Staff Director 

GREG SIMPKINS, Subcommittee Professional Staff Member 

NOELLE LUSANE, Democratic Professional Staff Member 

SHERI A. RICKERT, Subcommittee Professional Staff Member and Counsel 

LINDSEY M. PLUMLEY, Staff Associate 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

Page

WITNESSES 

Udit Raj, Ph.D., Chairman, All India Confederation of Scheduled Castes/

Scheduled Tribes Organizations ......................................................................... 10

Mr. Kancha Ilaiah, Professor of Political Science, Osmania University, India .. 14

Ms. Indira Singh Athwale, All India Confederation of Scheduled Castes/

Scheduled Tribes Organizations ......................................................................... 18

Joseph D’Souza, Ph.D., President, Dalit Freedom Network ................................ 23

Mr. T. Kumar, Advocacy Director, Asia and Pacific, Amnesty International ..... 28

LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING 

The Honorable Christopher H. Smith, a Representative in Congress from 

the State of New Jersey, and Chairman, Subcommittee on Africa, Global 

Human Rights and International Operations: Prepared statement ................ 5

Udit Raj, Ph.D.: Prepared statement ..................................................................... 11

Mr. Kancha Ilaiah: Prepared statement ................................................................ 16

Ms. Indira Singh Athwale: Prepared statement ................................................... 20

Joseph D’Souza, Ph.D.: Prepared statement and material submitted for the 

record .................................................................................................................... 25

Mr. T. Kumar: Prepared statement ....................................................................... 31

(1)

INDIA’S UNFINISHED AGENDA: EQUALITY AND 

JUSTICE FOR 200 MILLION VICTIMS OF THE 

CASTE SYSTEM 

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2005

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS

AND INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS,

COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, 

Washington, DC. 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2 o’clock p.m. in 

room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Christopher H. 

Smith (Chairman of the Subcommittee) presiding. 

Mr. SMITH. Good afternoon. Today’s hearing of the Subcommittee 

on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations will 

study the terrible situation facing India’s Dalits and tribal peoples. 

Taken together, the Dalits and tribal peoples constitute as many as 

250 million people. The Dalits, whose name means ‘‘the oppressed,’’ 

are much better known as ‘‘untouchables,’’ although this demeaning name is not the one they choose for themselves. 

They are also often referred to in official documents as ‘‘Scheduled Castes,’’ and occasionally as ‘‘Harijans’’ or ‘‘Children of God,’’ 

a name given to them by Ghandi. The tribal peoples are often referred to as ‘‘Scheduled Tribes’’ or ‘‘Adivasis,’’ which means indigenous or aboriginal inhabitants. The Dalits and tribal peoples are 

treated as virtual non-humans and suffer pervasive discrimination 

and violation of their human rights. 

This topic has taken on special relevance. India’s reformist government has made great strides to open its economy to improve the 

lot of all of its citizens. It has also played a leading role in the 

Community of Democracies, the UN’s Democracy Caucus, and the 

UN Democracy Fund. In June and July of this year, the United 

States and India announced a series of agreements that represent 

a quantum leap in cooperation between the world’s two most populous democracies after decades of estrangement during the Cold 

War. On July 18, United States and Indian leaders issued a joint 

statement resolving to establish a global partnership between the 

two nations through increased cooperation on a wide range of 

issues. We heartily welcome these actions. 

However, there is still a long road to travel. Most observers have 

focused on the nuclear proliferation implications of our announced 

agreements as potential stumbling blocks to a true strategic partnership between the United States and India. But as we seek to 

develop a strategic partnership, we must not lose sight of India’s 

2

most serious human rights problems. These problems are amply 

documented in the three current State Department reports: The 

2004 Human Rights Report on India, the 2005 Report on Trafficking in Persons, and the 2004 Report on Religious Freedom. All 

three are massive catalogs of human rights violations, which the 

Government of India condones, ignores, and in some instances, has 

even promoted. 

To quote the 2004 Human Rights Report on India: ‘‘Security force 

officials who committed human rights abuses generally enjoyed de 

facto legal impunity . . .’’ and it goes on. Without objection, I 

would include that, as well as the Trafficking in Persons Report 

language in the record at this point. 

[The information referred to follows:]

Passage from the 2004 Human Rights Report on India: 

‘‘Security force officials who committed human rights abuses generally enjoyed de 

facto legal impunity . . . violations included: torture and rape by police and other 

government agents; . . . harassment and arrest of human rights monitors; . . . 

forced prostitution; child prostitution and female infanticide; trafficking in women 

and children; . . . serious discrimination and violence against indigenous people and 

scheduled castes and tribes; widespread intercaste and communal violence; religiously motivated violence against Muslims and Christians; and widespread exploitation of indentured, bonded, and child labor.’’

Passage from the 2005 Report on Trafficking in Persons: 

‘‘India is a source, transit, and destination country for women, men, and children 

trafficked for the purposes of sexual and labor exploitation . . . Internal trafficking 

. . . for . . . sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, bonded labor, and indentured 

servitude is widespread. . . . the vast majority of females in the Indian commercial 

sex industry are currently victims of sexual servitude or were originally trafficked 

into the sex trade. India is also home to millions of victims of forced or bonded 

labor.’’

‘‘The Government of India does not fully comply with the minimum standards for 

the elimination of trafficking.’’

Mr. SMITH. India was placed on Tier 2 Watch List for human 

trafficking for a second consecutive year in 2005. Many of us believe it should be a Tier 3 country, and as the prime sponsor of the 

legislation that established the Trafficking in Persons Act, the 

TPVA, in the year 2000, I have studied this very, very closely and 

I am not alone in the concern that there is an enormous amount 

of trafficking that goes on there. Tier 3 status is certainly warranted. 

The State Department’s 2004 Report on Religious Freedom also 

had many harsh words about India’s respect for religious freedom. 

It noted that the Indian Government, despite India’s constitutional 

commitment to religious freedom and secular government, was 

often lax in protecting religious minorities from attack and in punishing their persecutors. Religious extremists have taken such laxity as a signal that they can attack with impunity. Missionaries 

were often harassed, and the right to freely choose one’s own religion was often violated. 

Finally, there is the issue of abortion. In theory, India only allows abortions for risk to the life of the mother, or grave risks to 

her health, or for substantial risk of fetal impairment. Yet, like so 

many countries where the right to life of an unborn child has been 

disregarded in a misguided attempt to provide a so-called limited 

abortion license, the reality is that there is abortion on demand in 

India. Estimates of abortions run as high as 7 million a year. There 

3

are some estimates that 17 percent of maternal deaths are due to 

abortion. So much for ‘‘safe, legal and rare.’’

And abortion is not just at the demand of the mother, but often 

at the demand of relatives who don’t want girl babies. The incidence of sex-selection abortions has reached staggering proportions. 

As many as 50 million girls and women are missing from India’s 

population as a result of infanticide and abortion. In most countries 

in the world, there are approximately 105 female births for every 

100 males. In India, there are less than 93 women for every 100 

men in the population. In one wealthier area of the capital of New 

Delhi, the sex ratio at birth has dropped to 760 girls for every 

1,000 boys, one of the lowest in the entire country and one of the 

lowest in the world. The problem is getting worse as scientific 

methods of detecting the sex of a baby in performing abortions are 

improving. These methods are becoming increasingly available 

even in rural areas. 

India banned sex-selection abortions in 1996, but the health minister recently admitted that not a single person has ever been convicted or otherwise punished for having carried out sex selective 

abortions. UNICEF has warned that unless steps are taken to address the problem, India will soon face severe social problems, not 

the least of which is increased trafficking of women, which is already an enormous problem. As more and more girls are aborted 

or murdered after birth, more and more poor women and girls will 

be trafficked. 

All of this background will provide the context for today’s hearing. India’s Dalits and tribal peoples are victims of all human 

rights violations prevalent in India, and to a far greater extent 

than most other Indians. 

According to India’s caste system, Dalits are impure, and even 

their shadow can pollute. Dalits are discriminated against, denied 

access to land, and forced to work in degrading conditions. Dalit 

men, women, and children numbering in the tens of millions work 

as agricultural laborers for a few pounds of rice or less than a dollar a day. Their upper-caste employers frequently use caste as a 

cover for exploitative economic arrangements. In India’s own 

version of apartheid, entire villages in many Indian states remain 

completely segregated by caste. Dalits dare not even walk in the 

part of the village occupied by higher-castes. They may not use the 

same wells, visit the same temples, drink from the same cups in 

tea stalls, or lay claim to land that is legally theirs. Dalit children 

are frequently made to sit in the back of classrooms. 

Most Dalits continue to live in extreme poverty, without land or 

opportunities for better employment or education. India has a policy of quotas in education and government jobs to benefit Dalits 

and tribal peoples, but most cannot afford primary education, so 

their literacy rates remain very low, and only a small minority can 

benefit from these quotas. 

Dalits are routinely abused at the hands of the police and of 

higher-caste groups that enjoy the state’s protection. According to 

India’s National Crime Records Bureau, in 2000, the last year for 

which figures are available, 25,455 crimes were committed against 

Dalits. Every hour, two Dalits were assaulted. Every day, three 

Dalit women were raped, two Dalits were murdered, and two Dalit 

4

homes were torched. Most experts believe that these numbers are 

grossly underreported, as Dalits are afraid to report crimes to police, because when they do, police often refuse to register or to investigate their complaints. 

In 2001, Amnesty International estimated that only about 5 percent of sexual assaults were registered and that police officers dismissed at least 30 percent of rape complaints as false. 

Approximately 80 percent of the tribal population live below the 

poverty level: 80 percent. Despite constitutional safeguards, the 

rights of indigenous groups in the eastern parts of the country are 

often ignored. In recent years, crimes against the tribes have risen. 

Indigenous people suffer discrimination and harassment, are deprived of their land, and are subjected to torture and to arbitrary 

arrest. Mob violence, lynching, arson and police atrocities against 

tribal persons occur in many states. 

Dalits and tribal peoples suffer horribly from human trafficking. 

Dalit girls have been forced to become temple prostitutes or ‘‘servants of god,’’ a practice where they are married to a deity or temple, where they are then forced to have sex with upper-caste men 

and eventually sold into prostitution. In 2001, more than 40,000 

tribal women were forced into situations of economic and sexual exploitation. An estimated 40 million people, most of them Dalits, are 

bonded workers, many working to pay off debs that were incurred 

generations ago, according to a 1999 report by Human Rights 

Watch. These people work under slave-like conditions for less than 

$1 a day. Fifteen million are children, and according to UNICEF, 

the majority are from the lowest castes. 

Dalits and tribal people are often the targets of Hindu religious 

extremism as well. Over the years, many Dalits and tribal groups 

have converted from Hinduism to other faiths to escape widespread 

discrimination and achieve higher social status. However, such converts often lose their benefits conferred by the government’s affirmative action programs because these, according to the Constitution, 

are reserved only for those having scheduled caste status. Converts 

to Christianity are particularly targeted. 

Christian missionaries have been operating schools and medical 

clinics for many years in tribal areas and among the very poor, and 

tribal peoples and Dalits have made great strides as a result. 

Hindu extremists resent these gains for disturbing the traditional 

social order, as better educated Dalits and tribals no longer accept 

their disadvantaged status as readily as they once did. Some Hindu 

groups fear that Christians may try to convert large numbers of 

lower-caste Hindus using economic or social welfare incentives. 

Many acts of violence against Christians stem from these fears and 

most go unpunished. Many states have also adopted anti-conversion laws in violation of India’s constitutional protection for religious freedom. 

In many cases, India has very good laws to protect the human 

rights of its citizens, although new and tougher legislation against 

trafficking is clearly necessary. But the best laws in the world are 

useless unless there is vigorous enforcement. And all too often, enforcement of laws protecting human rights is weak or non-existent. 

As an American, I can easily understand the difficulty in a democratic, Federal system of confronting deeply ingrained social prejuVerDate Mar 21 2002 13:35 Jan 18, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 F:\WORK\AGI\100605\23825.000 HINTREL1 PsN: SHIRL
5

dices against a minority, but that difficulty must be faced and overcome in any nation that aspires to its rightful place as one of the 

great nations in the world. To keep nearly a quarter of one’s population in subhuman status is not only a grotesque violation of 

human rights, but a formula for economic and political stagnation 

as well. Once in America, we deprived African Americans of the 

most basic rights and opportunities. This was especially true in our 

southern States, which were once a byword for poverty and backwardness among people of all races. For a long time, we refused to 

act at a national level to stop lynchings, often arguing that it was 

a local problem. Yet we all suffered the consequences of shutting 

out a huge segment of our population from equality and justice. 

Now, after the civil rights movement ended all legal basis for discrimination, and lynching is only a shameful memory, the southern 

States are among the most economically dynamic in America, and 

all regions of America enjoy unprecedented prosperity. By fulfilling 

its promises of equality and justice for all, India will also benefit 

in every way imaginable. 

Today, our panel of distinguished witnesses and visitors will provide us firsthand accounts of the situation in India, what Dalits 

and tribal peoples are doing for themselves to advance their cause 

and, I hope, they will provide suggestions as to how the U.S. can 

best ameliorate this terrible situation. 

And I would like to now yield to Ms. Lee, my friend and colleague, who is acting as Ranking Democrat today. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Smith follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, A REPRESENTA- TIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY AND CHAIRMAN, SUB- COMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS

The Subcommittee will come to order, and good afternoon to everyone. 

Today’s hearing of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations will study the terrible situation facing India’s Dalits and tribal 

peoples. Taken together, Dalits and tribal peoples constitute as many as 250 million 

people. The Dalits, whose name means ‘‘the oppressed,’’ are much better known as 

‘‘untouchables,’’ although this demeaning name is not the one they choose for themselves. They are also often referred to in official documents as ‘‘Scheduled Castes, 

and occasionally as ‘‘Harijans,’’ or ‘‘Children of God,’’ a name given them by Gandhi. 

The tribal peoples are often referred to as Scheduled Tribes, or Adivasis, which 

means indigenous or aboriginal inhabitants. The Dalits and tribal peoples are treated as virtual non-humans, and suffer pervasive discrimination and violation of their 

human rights. 

This topic has taken on a special relevance. India’s reformist government has 

made great strides to open its economy, and improve the lot of all its citizens. It 

has also played a leading role in the Community of Democracies and the UN’s Democracy Caucus and the UN Democracy Fund. In June and July of this year the 

U.S. and India announced a series of agreements that represent a quantum leap in 

cooperation between the world’s two most populous democracies after decades of estrangement during the Cold War. On July 18th, U.S. and Indian leaders issued a 

joint statement resolving to establish a ‘‘global partnership’’ between the two nations through increased cooperation on a wide range of issues. We heartily welcome 

all of these actions. 

However, there is still a long road to travel. Most observers have focused on the 

nuclear proliferation implications of our announced agreements as potential stumbling blocks to a true strategic partnership between the U.S. and India. But as we 

seek to develop a strategic partnership, we must not lose sight of India’s serious 

human rights problems. These problems are amply documented in the three current 

State Department reports: the 2004 Human Rights Report on India, the 2005 Report 

on Trafficking in Persons, and the 2004 Report on Religious Freedom. All three are 

massive catalogues of human rights violations which the Government of India condones, ignores, and in some instances, has even promoted. 

6

To quote the 2004 Human Rights Report on India:

Security force officials who committed human rights abuses generally enjoyed 

de facto legal impunity . . . violations included: torture and rape by police and 

other government agents; . . . harassment and arrest of human rights monitors; 

. . . forced prostitution; child prostitution and female infanticide; trafficking in 

women and children; . . . serious discrimination and violence against indigenous people and scheduled castes and tribes; widespread intercaste and communal violence; religiously motivated violence against Muslims and Christians; 

and widespread exploitation of indentured, bonded, and child labor.

Further, the 2005 Report on Trafficking in Persons has this to say. Again I quote:

India is a source, transit, and destination country for women, men, and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual and labor exploitation . . . Internal 

trafficking . . . for . . . sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, bonded labor, 

and indentured servitude is widespread. . . . the vast majority of females in the 

Indian commercial sex industry are currently victims of sexual servitude or were 

originally trafficked into the sex trade. India is also home to millions of victims 

of forced or bonded labor. 

The Government of India does not fully comply with the minimum standards 

for the elimination of trafficking.

India was placed on Tier 2 Watch List for human trafficking a second consecutive 

year in 2005. Many of us believe it should be a Tier III country. 

The State Department’s 2004 Report on Religious Freedom also had many harsh 

words for India’s respect for religious freedom. It noted that the Indian government, 

despite India’s constitutional commitment to religious freedom and secular government, was often lax in protecting religious minorities from attack, and in punishing 

their persecutors. Religious extremists have taken such laxity as a signal that they 

can attack with impunity. Missionaries were often harassed, and the right to freely 

choose one’s own religion was often violated. 

Finally, there is abortion. In theory, India only allows abortions for risk to the 

life of the mother, or ‘‘grave risks’’ to her health, or for ‘‘substantial risk’’ of fetal 

impairment. Yet like so many countries where the absolute right to life of the unborn child has been disregarded in a misguided attempt to provide a so-called ‘‘limited’’ abortion license, the reality is that there is abortion on demand. Estimates of 

abortions run as high as 7 million a year. There are some estimates that 17% of 

maternal deaths are due to abortion: so much for ‘‘safe, legal and rare.’’

And abortion is not just at the demand of the mother, but often at the demand 

of relatives who don’t want girl babies. The incidence of ‘‘sex-selection abortions’’ has 

reached staggering proportions. As many as 50 million girls and women are missing 

from India’s population as a result of infanticide and abortion. In most countries in 

the world, there are approximately 105 female births for every 100 males. In India, 

there are less than 93 women for every 100 men in the population. In one wealthier 

area of the capital of New Delhi, the sex ratio at birth has dropped to 762 girls for 

every 1,000 boys, one of the lowest in the entire country. The problem is getting worse 

as scientific methods of detecting the sex of a baby and of performing abortions are 

improving. These methods are becoming increasing available even in rural areas. 

India banned sex-selection abortions in 1996, but the health minister recently admitted that not a single person has ever been convicted or otherwise punished for 

having carried out sex selective abortions. UNICEF has warned that unless steps 

are taken to address the problem, India will soon face severe social problems, not 

least increased trafficking of women, which is already an enormous problem. As 

more and more girls are aborted or murdered after birth, more and more poor 

women and girls will be trafficked. 

All of this background will provide the context for today’s hearing. India’s Dalits 

and tribal peoples are victims of all the human rights violations prevalent in India, 

and to a far greater extent than most other Indians. 

According to India’s caste system, Dalits are impure, and even their shadow can 

pollute. Dalits are discriminated against, denied access to land and forced to work 

in degrading conditions. Dalit men, women, and children numbering in the tens of 

millions work as agricultural laborers for a few pounds of rice or less than a dollar 

a day. Their upper-caste employers frequently use caste as a cover for exploitative 

economic arrangements. In India’s own version of ‘‘apartheid,’’ entire villages in 

many Indian states remain completely segregated by caste. Dalits dare not even 

walk in the part of the village occupied by higher castes. They may not use the 

same wells, visit the same temples, drink from the same cups in tea stalls, or lay 

claim to land that is legally theirs. Dalit children are frequently made to sit in the 

back of classrooms. 

7

Most Dalits continue to live in extreme poverty, without land or opportunities for 

better employment or education. India has a policy of quotas in education and government jobs to benefit Dalits and tribal peoples. But most cannot afford primary 

education, so their literacy rates remain very low and only a small minority can 

benefit from these quotas. 

Dalits are routinely abused at the hands of the police and of higher-caste group 

that enjoy the state’s protection. According to India’s National Crime Records Bureau, in 2000, the last year for which figures are available, 25,455 crimes were committed against Dalits. Every hour two Dalits were assaulted; every day three Dalit 

women were raped, two Dalits were murdered, and two Dalit homes were torched. 

And most experts believe that these numbers are grossly underreported, since Dalits 

are afraid to report crimes to police, and when they do, police often refused to register or investigate their complaints. In 2001 Amnesty International estimated that 

only about 5 percent of sexual assaults were registered, and that police officers dismissed at least 30 percent of rape complaints as false. 

Approximately eighty percent of the tribal population lives below the poverty 

level. Despite constitutional safeguards, the rights of indigenous groups in the eastern parts of the country are often ignored. In recent years, crime against the tribes 

has risen. Indigenous peoples suffer discrimination and harassment, are deprived of 

their land, and subjected to torture and to arbitrary arrest. Mob violence, lynching, 

arson, and police atrocities against tribal persons occur in many states. 

Dalits and tribal peoples suffer horribly from human trafficking. Dalit girls have 

been forced to become temple prostitutes as devadasis, or ‘‘servants of god,’’ a practice where they are ‘‘married’’ to a deity or temple where they are then forced to 

have sex with upper caste men and are eventually sold into prostitution. In 2001, 

more than 40,000 tribal women were forced into situations of economic and sexual 

exploitation. An estimated 40 million people, most of them Dalits, are bonded workers, many working to pay off debts that were incurred generations ago, according 

to a 1999 report by Human Rights Watch. These people work under slave-like conditions for less than U.S. $1 per day. 15 million are children, and according to 

UNICEF, the majority are from the lowest castes. 

Dalits and tribal peoples are often the targets of Hindu religious extremism as 

well. Over the years, many Dalits and tribal groups have converted from Hinduism 

to other faiths to escape widespread discrimination and achieve higher social status. 

However, such converts often lose benefits conferred by the Government’s affirmative action programs because these, according to the Constitution, are reserved only 

for those having scheduled caste status. Converts to Christianity are particularly 

targeted. 

Christian missionaries have been operating schools and medical clinics for many 

years in tribal areas and among the very poor, and tribal peoples and Dalits have 

made great strides as a result. Hindu extremists resent these gains for disturbing 

the traditional social order, since better educated Dalits and tribals no longer accept 

their disadvantaged status as readily as they once did. Some Hindu groups fear that 

Christians may try to convert large numbers of lower-caste Hindus, using economic 

or social welfare incentives. Many acts of violence against Christians stem from 

these fears, and most go unpunished. Many states have also adopted anti-conversion 

laws, in violation of India’s constitutional protection for religious freedom. 

In many cases, India has very good laws to protect the human rights of its citizens, although new and tougher legislation against trafficking is clearly necessary. 

But the best laws in the world are useless unless there is vigorous enforcement, and 

all too often, enforcement of laws protecting human rights is weak or non-existent. 

As an American I can easily understand the difficulty in a democratic, federal system of confronting deeply ingrained social prejudices against a minority, but that 

difficulty must be faced and overcome in any nation which aspires to its rightful 

place as one of the great nations in the world. To keep nearly a quarter of one’s 

population in subhuman status is not only a grotesque violation of human rights, 

but it is a formula for economic and political stagnation as well. Once in America, 

we deprived African Americans of the most basic rights and opportunities. This was 

especially true in our Southern states, which were once a byword for poverty and 

backwardness among people of all races. For a long time we refused to act at a national level to stop lynchings, often arguing that it was a local problem. Yet we all 

suffered the consequences of shutting off a huge segment of our population from 

equality and justice. Now, after the civil rights movement ended all legal basis for 

discrimination, and lynching is only a shameful memory, the Southern states are 

among the most economically dynamic in America, and all regions of America enjoy 

unprecedented prosperity. By fulfilling its promises of equality and justice for all, 

India will also benefit in every way imaginable. 

8

Today our panel of distinguished visitors will provide us first hand accounts of 

the situation in India, what Dalits and tribal peoples are doing for themselves to 

advance their cause, and I hope, they will provide suggestions as to how the U.S. 

can best ameliorate this terrible situation.

Ms. LEE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That was a very comprehensive statement. And I want to thank you for this hearing and also 

thank Congressman Payne for working with you on it. He unfortunately had to miss this hearing today, but he wanted me to thank 

you, as well as our witnesses, for this very timely and important 

hearing. 

Mr. Chairman, no one can ignore the tremendous transformative 

steps India has taken since independence in 1947 in modernizing 

its society and preparing itself to be a global leader in the 21st century. India is an international center for high tech and biotech research and development. Its economic growth has steadily pushed 

forward over the last 15 years, allowing a sizeable middle class. 

I had the privilege of travelling to India a couple of years ago 

and I saw the vibrancy of its economy and the beauty and the resilience of its people, yet for all its success, India carries some social 

customs like the practice of untouchability that impede its progress 

toward a modern India. That is why this hearing is a modern 

forum for us to learn about ways India can overcome pernicious 

centuries of old practices of societal exclusion that, of course, Mahatma Ghandi brought to light. While Ghandi is known through 

the world for leading India’s non-violent freedom fighters to victory 

over the British, now his other lifelong battle, of course, was 

against the injustices brought by the social divisions of the caste 

system. Ghandi is often quoted as saying, ‘‘It is a crime and sin to 

regard a person as an untouchable because he is of a particular 

community.’’ And that is a direct quote from Ghandi. Indeed, many 

credit Ghandi for raising awareness that eventually led to the Indian Constitution abolishing the practice of untouchability. That 

was, I believe, in 1950. 

In addition, enshrined into Indian law are affirmative action programs allocating 15 percent of all government jobs and university 

placements to the scheduled caste, that has been instituted in the 

last 55 years. But, of course, just in our own country, here in America, discrimination still exists. The Dalits, as the untouchables prefer to be known as, are far the most ethnically indistinguishable 

from other castes and are estimated to number—and this, again, 

is an estimate because I have seen a variety of estimates at least 

over 150 million. Caste and class are linked in India. 

According to the National Geographic, nearly 90 percent of all of 

the poor and 95 percent of all of the illiterate in India are Dalits. 

As the most recent report from the World Bank notes, caste remains a key indicator of economic opportunity in India. As well, violence against the Dalits remain a reality in modern India. In 

2000, there were 25,455 reported crimes. Some argue against 

Dalits. Some argue that the figure is probably higher, as many 

cases go unreported for fear of retribution and the high cost needed 

to bribe police. Human Rights Watch has reported that Dalits continue to face violence and discrimination in nearly every sphere of 

their lives. Women are targeted with sexual violence. Not only do 

9

authorities regularly tolerate such discrimination and violence, in 

some instances, they actively encourage it. 

Furthermore, Amnesty International has reported that Dalit 

girls are often forced or sold into prostitution. So, Mr. Chairman, 

these are not the attributes of a nation on its way to leadership in 

the 21st century. These are challenges that must be addressed 

head on—head on. Ghandi’s message of a casteless society must be 

carried forward. Some point to efforts to promote continued economic growth as a silver bullet for alleviating the poverty and discrimination that Dalits face in India. But growth alone cannot and 

will not force changes to centuries-old customs. That is why I look 

forward to this hearing, I look forward to listening to our witnesses 

on how they see a 21st century India abandoning 17th century 

practices and embracing a future that includes all Indians. I believe it is Indians who need to let us know what they see as their 

vision on how this can be accomplished. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you. Mr. Fortenberry? 

Mr. FORTENBERRY. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding 

this important hearing. Ms. Lee, I also have a quote from Mahatma 

Ghandi that I would like to read:

‘‘If I have to be reborn, I should be born an untouchable so 

that I may share their sorrow, sufferings and affronts leveled 

at them in order that I may endeavor to free myself and them 

from that miserable condition.’’

Now, Mr. Chairman, I think before we consider what further 

steps that we may take as a Congress and international community 

to help advance the civil rights of the Dalit people, I think it is also 

important to acknowledge the Indian Government’s work to right 

many wrongs against Dalit people and criminalize violence. I look 

forward to hearing of any successes in this regard or, as you, Mr. 

Chairman, have outlined most powerfully, the vast amount of work 

that remains to be done in this regard. But most of all, I look forward to hearing about how we can help India achieve Ghandi’s vision for all of her people. 

Mr. SMITH. Mr. Fortenberry, thank you so very much. 

I would like to now welcome our very distinguished witnesses to 

the witness table, beginning first with Mr. Udit Raj, who is the National President of the Justice Party, the All India Confederation 

of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes Organizations, and the Lord 

Buddha Club, which was founded in 1996 for furthering the cause 

of Buddhism, implementation of reservation, which is India’s 

version of affirmative action, setting up schools and vocational centers, promoting the cause of human rights, and ensuring economic 

development of the Dalits. Mr. Udit possesses an M.A. in Political 

Science, and is an LL.B., Ph.D. scholar. Udit continues to fight 

against social injustice and contributes to the cause of effective implementation of reservation for the Dalits of India. 

We will then hear from Professor Kancha Ilaiah, who is a Professor and currently Head of the Department of Political Science at 

Osmania University in India. Dr. Ilaiah is the author of many 

books on the socio/political situation in India. In 1985, when starvation deaths occurred in a poverty-ridden district in India, he established free feeding centers for the starving masses, started a 

10

massive campaign against caste atrocities in India, and campaigned against state repression of the Dalits and other lower-caste 

people in India. For the last 25 years, he has been campaigning 

against the practice of untouchability in India. 

We will then hear from Ms. Indira Singh Athwale. Ms. Athwale 

is the State President of the All India Confederation of Scheduled 

Castes/Scheduled Tribes Organizations, as well as a Professor in 

the JBD Science College, an affiliate of the University of Pune. Ms. 

Athwale fights for the rights of Dalits, Dalits women in particular, 

all across India. She is also National President of the Fule-ShahuAmbedkar Students’ Association, a college and university level organization that brings together low-caste students. 

We will then hear from Dr. Joseph D’Souza, who is the President 

of the All India Christian Council, one of the largest interdenominational alliances of Christians dealing with national concerns and 

human rights issues. Dr. D’Souza is also the International President of the Dalit Freedom Network and the Associate International 

Director of OM International. Dr. D’Souza has been writing articles 

and speaking publicly for nearly 25 years. He focuses on issues of 

freedom of religion, human rights, and the work among the oppressed and the marginalized. He travels extensively in his campaign for the rights of the oppressed and marginalized in society, 

especially for the rights of Dalits and the backward castes in India. 

His most recent book, a best seller, Dalit Freedom Now and Forever, was published in the year 2004. In addition, Dr. D’Souza’s articles have been published in major mission journals and magazines, as well as the three compendiums, Communication in an 

Asian Context, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement 

Handbook, and Global Missiology. 

We will then hear from Dr. T. Kumar who is no stranger to this 

Committee. Mr. Kumar is the Advocacy Director, Asia and Pacific, 

for Amnesty International and has been a frequent witness for this 

Committee on a variety of human rights issues. It is always great 

to see my good friend, Mr. Kumar, and we thank him for being 

here, as well. 

Dr. Raj, if you could begin? 

STATEMENT OF UDIT RAJ, PH.D., CHAIRMAN, ALL INDIA CONFEDERATION OF SCHEDULED CASTES/SCHEDULED TRIBES 

ORGANIZATIONS 

Mr. RAJ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ms. Lee, Mr. Fortenberry. 

First of all, I thank you all that you are giving a representative of 

that community which has not gotten justice as yet. But to talk 

about justice, if the wife had not been held internationally for the 

world, everything within the Hindu society, but to the world it is 

not everything. 

Indian society, in other words, Hindu society, has been divided 

in full semi-strata. On the top are the Brahmins, then Kshatriyas, 

then the Vaishyas, and the Dalits are the bottom from the feet. 

That is the origin of Dalits. Today I am here before you because 

of reservation given by British rule in 1952. I am here to seek your 

help that now the time has come again to give something to Dalits 

because the world is getting globalized, the economy is being 

11

globalized, culture, everything and globalization is harming us a 

lot. 

Job opportunities are there in private sector, government sectors 

are shrinking. So far I was leading about four million employees 

and officers working in the government and of course the state governments in India. But globalization is marring the percentage. As 

a result of globalization, government sector is shrinking very fast, 

nowhere to go. 

Dalits got reservation in politics, in government services in 1932. 

Our so-called upper-caste, dominant-caste, they say that of course 

everything right is our way of living. We say no, it is not our way 

of living. We are to be studied, our problems are to be addressed 

separately, which have not been addressed. For instance, Mr. 

Chairman, if you lined up a Dalit, you will encounter educated 

upper-class boy who will say everything is all right, our culture is 

all right, everything is fine. Our thinking is not to go after material 

world. We are satisfied with this, probably you will be also impressed. Our things have not been noticed. About 5,000 women are 

raped in a year. Last year, 25,000 Dalits were subject to different 

atrocities such as rape, et cetera. These are the reported cases, 

commission. And many unreported cases go on there. 

Now in the interrelation, there are two or three things which are 

very important. If you want, of course, there is harmony in Indian 

society, then Dalits are to be integrated in the economic area and 

in the service field. A lot of Dalits started taking up arms today. 

Why? They are joining the Communist Party over there, they think 

because they are not getting justice. So our society is going to become unbalanced, so it is in the interest of India/United States relations to the Dalits’ interests are addressed separately. They 

should be given opportunities at least in American companies, multiple companies established in India. The upper-caste industries 

are opposing and they are not giving any opportunities, job opportunities in their concerns. Therefore, my main concern is that investment from America, huge investment is taking place in India. 

At least that should be taken up, that the Dalits are given opportunities for this. 

They should be also given without facility; they can come as carpenters, they can come as manual workers here. There are very 

many ways, of course, important for United Nations. Or though 

they are meant for taking care of labor problems, women problems, 

exploitation of any form. But these are not accessible to us. 

So this is what I have to say, that U.S. investment must take 

care of our interest also and in the interest of Indian/United States 

relations. That is all, thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Raj follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF UDIT RAJ, PH.D., CHAIRMAN, ALL INDIA CONFEDERATION

OF SCHEDULED CASTES/SCHEDULED TRIBES ORGANIZATIONS

LEFT BEHIND: THE IMPORTANCE OF RESERVATION FOR THE FUTURE OF THE DALITS

More than 200 Million people in India are being hurt by the growth of the private 

sector in India. The reservation system that has guaranteed some measure of economic advancement for the Dalits is being slowly destroyed by the progress of privatization in India. Millions of Dalits will lose their government-protected employment, called reservation, and will be unable to find work due to caste discrimination. While Indian industries will not integrate Dalits in their companies, I come 

12

before you today to call on the United States Congress to influence US companies 

to seek out Dalits in hiring and training and help us climb out of the three thousand 

year old grave dug for us by caste-minded Hindus. 

The Economic Times reported on 29 September, 2005 that the profits from leading 

Indian companies had jumped by 40% while employment only grew 3.8%. The public 

sector in India accounts for more than 8% of the employment but has been rapidly 

shrinking from privatization and globalization. More than 2,000,000 jobs have been 

lost in the public sector in the past few years. Reservation, a part of India’s constitution from the beginning, ensured that a certain percentage of these public sector 

jobs would be reserved for Dalits. As the public sector shrinks, Dalits have no employment alternatives: globalization is adversely affecting Dalits and therefore the 

developed countries, particularly the United States, must uplift the Dalits in a situation where their own countrymen consider them worth less than animals. 

Millions of untouchables (Dalits) in India have been subjected to humiliation, degradation, untouchability, starvation, rape, murder, and more for the past 3000 

years. Indian society was divided into four classes or varnas (castes): on the top are 

Brahmins (priestly class), next to them are Kshatriyas (warrior class), then the 

Vaishyas (business class), and at the bottom are Shudras and untouchables. These 

untouchables can not share any public platform, and even their shadows are said 

to pollute so-called upper castes. The ‘‘Laws of Manu’’, which regulates the social 

and political lifestyle of Hindu society in India, bars untouchables from reading, pronouncing, and hearing holy books and hymns like the Vedas; if they hear them molten lead is to be poured in their ears, their tongues are to be cut off if they pronounce them, and their eyes are to be pierced with red hot iron if they read them. 

Even African slaves never faced such draconian social and religious norms. The Indian Government may say that their old Constitution, the Laws of Manu, has been 

replaced by a modern Indian Constitution framed by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. But in 

reality, the old Constitution still holds the order of the day, in day-to-day life. 

The world may not believe this nightmare is factual truth, but it is so. Why did 

the apartheid problem catch the attention of the world? It is because nature and 

religion did not help in masking the reality. Blacks and whites are both creations 

of nature and this realization has helped in exposing the discrimination of brothers 

with black skin. Such discrimination was not backed by religion, be it Christianity 

or Islam. But in our case the social discrimination, which has pervaded all walks 

of life, is caused by the Hindu religion. The untouchables have been consoled to live 

a dehumanized life because they are said to be condemned to it by the desire of 

gods. It is so deeply entrenched that even Dalits have internalized their slavery. Accordingly, it is considered good if they suffer because they are washing away the 

sins of their past lives and their present suffering will supposedly liberate them in 

the next life. 

UN article 1 of the UN Convention on Elimination of Racial Discrimination 

(CERD) is inclusive of caste discrimination as formally interpreted and explained by 

the CERD Committee in 1996, ICCPR (International Convention on Civil and Political Rights) in 1997 and the UN Sub-Commission for protection and promotion of 

Human Rights in 1999. Consider this—on the one hand the Indian Constitution recognizes discrimination for the basis of reservation—on the other, the representatives 

of the Government of India in international bodies consistently deny the existence 

of caste discrimination. The Indian Government and its dominant castes are not shy 

about receiving international aid from the UN and developed countries in the fields 

of health, education, and rural development. Yes, somehow they continue to say that 

caste discrimination is an internal matter. Even the most developed countries like 

the USA and Japan have gracefully accepted discrimination in their respective countries. When nature-created differences like blacks and whites are being fought then 

why can not man-made social norms arising from the caste system also be fought? 

Our problems are more severe than apartheid. Can anyone deny that the killing, 

rape, starvation or social discrimination of Dalits is not rampant? Isn’t it a fact that 

safeguards like reservation provided in the Constitution are frequently flouted? Isn’t 

it true that today also untouchables are carrying human excreta on their heads? 

Isn’t it a fact that even in the wake of the tsunami tragedy that struck coastal 

Tamil Nadu, many relief camps were put up by the Government and other voluntary bodies, wherein Dalits were not allowed to share food and shelter side-byside with upper castes and others? Even in the cases of death, they were treated 

separately. Among human beings, caste discrimination still continues to be practiced 

in India which proves that the dominant castes cannot change their mindset. 

The only progress made by the Dalits is due to reservation in services and politics. 

Dalits constitute about 25% of the total population of India, meaning Dalits are due 

nearly one quarter of all public jobs and political appointments. So far, reservation 

has not been fully implemented. For example, out of 120 Secretaries in the GovernVerDate Mar 21 2002 13:35 Jan 18, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 F:\WORK\AGI\100605\23825.000 HINTREL1 PsN: SHIRL
13

ment of India, there are hardly any Dalits. Of the 22% of jobs saved from Dalits 

and native Tribals in India in the central government, only around 14% have been 

filled at the highest level and the next highest level. These levels are consistent 

with those at Public Sector Undertakings and Banks. There are almost no Dalit 

judges. 

Making matters worse, the government of India has been slowly eroding the 

power of reservation. In 1997 the Department of Personnel & Training issued five 

anti-reservation orders on the basis of Supreme Court judgment which have eroded 

the base of reservation. 

The All India Confederation of SC/ST Organizations has been struggling since 

1997 for restoration of the benefit of reservation and its implementation. Outside 

of reserved employment, the opportunities afforded Dalits are abysmal. Poverty 

among Dalits remains around 50%. Dalits often earn less than 1 US Dollar per day. 

The total budget expenditures from all ministries for Dalits and other lower castes 

in India amount to Rs. 62,530.4 million. That is only $6 spent by the government 

per Dalit for the entire year. Currently there are 5.21 million Dalit job seekers registered with the Ministry of Labor who are being denied equal opportunity because 

of caste. Most of these will only find jobs as manual scavengers and cleaners. Many 

will have to hide their identity to survive. The untouchables do not have any participation in the fields of industry, trade, commerce, higher education and judiciary, art 

and culture. Imagine what would be happening to them if there were no reservation 

at all. 

I want to close by drawing a comparison between your country and India. 150 

years ago slavery was abolished in the United States. At that time, blacks had no 

legal rights, had a high illiteracy rate, had no culture to call their own, and had 

few employment opportunities outside of manual labor. Now, I see that here in 

America there are 75 black CEOs in major corporations. I see African-Americans in 

sports, film, music, and on TV. I see Oprah Winfrey and other black leaders help 

lead America. I see legal cases where blacks present their case and are given justice. 

I see a country with opportunity for all regardless of color or background. 

In India, a system of caste has kept the Dalits down for 3000 years. There are 

no Dalit CEOs. Barely one-third of all Dalits are literate. Dalit children dream of 

becoming actors and actresses but their dark skin prevents them from finding a 

place on screen. Murder, grievous offences, rape, arson, and other atrocities are 

rampant against Dalits. Recently, more than 50 houses of Dalits were burnt at 

Gohana in Sonepat District of Haryana state in India. Before this, five Dalits were 

lynched for a cow Carcass. They were going to sell its hide to the market and the 

dominant castes came to know and attacked and brutally murdered them. In reaction to the incident, the international vice-president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad 

(VHP), which is also quite active in the USA, Mr. Giriraj Kishor stated that a cow 

was more important than Dalits in Hindu scriptures. In 2001, about 44,000 atrocities were reported as per the National Crime Record Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. This is the official figure, but many more incidents go 

unreported, and if these are also taken into account, it will be more than hundreds 

of thousands of cases. 

The US Government should come forward to save the interests of the Dalits. It 

should take up the cause with the Government of India so that the interests of 

Dalits are protected. The United States has a powerful voice in the international 

community and the Congress is the originator of that voice. Urge your companies 

to hire Dalits. Urge your diplomats to bring the issue of caste up to the Indian government. Allow Dalits space at the United Nations. The All India Confederation of 

SC/ST Organizations is the largest organization of government employees in India, 

but Human Rights Commission of the UN doesn’t provide opportunity to its representatives to articulate the grievances of Dalits. Right now an abundant amount 

of US funds, donations, and other assistance in the form of education, knowledge, 

technology, and in kind donations are being transferred to India, but Dalits hardly 

get anything out of these. Even funds and assistance provided for Dalits are being 

stolen by others. Almost all NGOs are owned by the upper castes, and it is they 

who articulate Dalits’ grievances, often without the knowledge of the Dalits. A 

White businessman established a Medical College in Mississippi exclusively for 

Blacks, but there are no such examples in India. The US can provide opportunities 

to Dalits to seek jobs in the USA while providing them Visas. Educational Institutions can be established in India so that not only the knowledge of English is given 

to Dalit children but also important degrees are available. Break the hold that caste 

has over CEOs in foreign and multinational companies. Give the Dalits the opportunity to enter the international economy. 

Due to modern communication and high technology, the world has become like a 

village and hence people living in any part of the globe are morally bound to stand 

14

and share with others in their suffering. I am quite hopeful that members of this 

Committee will watch to see that from now onwards the Dalits receive fair treatment from US companies and leaders. 

Thank you for your time and I welcome any questions.

Mr. SMITH. Dr. Raj, thank you very much. Professor Ilaiah. 

STATEMENT OF MR. KANCHA ILAIAH, PROFESSOR OF 

POLITICAL SCIENCE, OSMANIA UNIVERSITY, INDIA 

Mr. ILAIAH. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for inviting me here. I 

thank Ms. Lee and Mr. Fortenberry to have made their presentation. 

At the outset, I have written notes here. I would submit this for 

your consideration and make two or three points basically what I 

have after that. Ghandi was twice quoted by both Members, who 

was the father of our nation, of course, there is no question about 

that. But there is this father of Dalit tribals and he is known as 

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. I would quote something from my head, because I did not bring the written statement. He said, while handing 

over the Indian Constitution to the President of India, which he 

dropped it, that:

‘‘In 1950 we are entering into a system of contradictions. Politically the Indian untouchables, tribals, backward masses, are 

going to have the right to vote. But socially and spiritually, 

they will continue to exist in slavery and bondage. And if this 

social slavery and bondage is not broken in the times to come, 

this Constitution will break and the democracy is going to 

crack.’’

So, Mr. Chairman, Mahatma Ghandi opposed untouchability, but 

most unfortunately, he did not oppose the caste system. Now as a 

result, the Indian Constitution, article 17 says, untouchability 

stands abolished, but more understanding, the understanding of 

the Dalit OBC tribal intellectuals today is, unless caste is 

unabolished, untouchability cannot be abolished. They are interlinked. They are born one and the same time. God created untouchables, God did not create untouchables in Hindu scriptures and 

God created the lower-castes from his feet. So there is no way in 

which we can move toward the head. 

Now this caste system and untouchability, Mr. Chairman, has 

become a source of social tension in India not today, but over a period of 300, 400 years now. But now the social tension is boiling. 

There is a view held by the upper-caste intellectuals, the ruling 

party of India, BJP says its organizations, that Islam was forcefully 

imposed on the Indian continent. But my own understanding tells 

me it is these lower-caste millions of untouchables and Dalits, historically embraced Islam, because there was no possibility of equality in Hinduism, ever. 

And in the last 70, 80 years, quite a number of people are moving into Christianity, are moving into Buddhism. My friend himself 

embraced Buddhism, leaving his past back. But this is treated as 

imposition and the Hindu forces inflict violence on those people 

who go to other religions. Now this is where Afghanistan, Pakistan, 

Bangladesh, even Kashmir, have become Muslin nations and the 

criminal rights got created because the lower-caste thought of this 

15

as an escape from oppression, whereas the upper-caste thought our 

slaves are leaving elsewhere. 

So in the interest of Indo/American relations and in the interest 

of reducing the tensions of South Asia, which is the most boiling 

point of violence today, it is important that America would place 

on its legislative records that castes and untouchability stands 

should be abolished. 

And my request to your Committee Chairman is that the United 

Nations, when it drafted its human rights chapter, it placed on 

record the sources of inequality in the world. It said religion, language, race and gender were the sources of inequality. But to our 

most unfortunate situation, caste was not seen as a source of inequality. We want to put this on your agenda of human rights 

chapter and we appeal to the American State, even civil society 

and commissions like this, to help us to put castes on the list of 

sources of inequality. 

Secondly, there is a view, even of the American view, as I said 

in my paper, that extremism is increasing in India and India’s 

neighboring countries. It could be of terrorism, it could be of Maoist 

kind of violence. If you see the belt from South India to Nepal, 

there is the connection of Maoist kind of violence increasing. But 

why is this happening, with all these people going there? In my 

own perception, my own studies, it was very clear that the untouchables who labor day in and day out, but do not even get $1.00 

wage a day. And the market rate of survival is $3.00 minimum 

wage is needed to buy anything for survival, food. So there is education to us was stopped for several years, but because of freedom 

and because of the British openness, some education was opened 

to us. But unfortunately, there are two education systems. The Indian Government education system, which is given to our children, 

operates in regional languages. I studied in regional language and 

we need to go to college only to write our exams in English, which 

is impossible. 

Whereas the upper-caste, the rich, have English out there in the 

private sector. So therefore, I would ask this commission that 

World Bank, IMF and many financial, many forms of financial aid 

that flows from America to India through even USAID aid goes 

through the government agencies and the government agencies 

hardly spend—there are no Dalit capitalists, there are no Dalit entrepreneurs, Dalit contractors. But this money again flows into the 

hands of the upper-caste industry. Your outsourcing companies go 

there into the upper-caste employment agencies. So we would say 

that the globalized economy, including that of IMF and World 

Bank, should be inclusive. And we are in terms of number, as 

tribals, Dalits, other backward-castes, what we call the Sudras, we 

are today 750 million. 

Now if the globalized economy does not include us, either in the 

form of whatever money flows from here, conditioning with the Indian Government that Dalits and OBC tribals should be part of 

that economic development, contracting, industrial share and sharing of the labor economy and the computer science economy, we 

should have our equal, what we call proportional share, based on 

population, caste-wise. 

16

Now our market is breaking. The gap between the rich and the 

poor from 1991 to present has increased 300-fold. So it is likely to 

lead to major violence in that region and it is likely to drive people 

into terrorism in various modes. Therefore, I would ask upon this 

commission to see that we are given preferential treatment in all 

the American companies that come to our land. And all the European companies, it is possible through the UN charter mechanisms. 

Secondly, we are also putting into English education through 

various mechanisms that globally are developed. We need to infuse 

aid into educational institutions and that should be coming to 

English education, but not regional language education. 

And lastly, I would urge upon the American Government to, 

when our Dalit tribal OBC boys and girls apply for visas for higher 

education, they do not have the means to pay as much money as 

others can pay. All of the comfort jobs, many of our children cannot 

even see, Mr. Chairman, the face of your visa offices. So we want 

that some sort of priority visas, if our kids are qualified, up to the 

mark in terms of their degree or engineers. There are a number of 

engineers, doctors, within the tribal communities. Hopefully we are 

given some, our children are given some visas so that they can 

come here and learn and go back and then improve their condition 

back there. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Ilaiah follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MR. KANCHA ILAIAH, PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, OSMANIA UNIVERSITY, INDIA

THE ABOLITION OF UNTOUCHABILITY: THE KEY TO STABILITY IN INDIA

Across South Asia, the rise in religious extremism has become a cause for concern 

for the United States and other world powers. Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal all are facing violent factions within their borders 

that threaten the stability of their governments and in some cases have led to a 

complete disruption in international trade, development, and economic growth. 

While the US and India share a common goal of fighting terrorism within South 

Asia and stopping these violent extremists, neither country has done an adequate 

job of understanding the causes of this instability or discovering why countries like 

Pakistan must now walk a perilous line between religious extremism and secular 

governance. 

The violence across South Asia has its roots in the Hindu caste system. As the 

US continues its campaign against global terrorism and works to advance democracy, the US will not succeed in South Asia unless it understands and addresses 

the damage done by caste. India as a country cannot and will not be able to sustain 

its democracy unless Hinduism locates the malady that has turned 750 million low 

caste people and Dalits into ticking time bombs. This malady is caste. 

The caste system is specific to the Indian subcontinent. It was a by-product of the 

invader psyche of Aryan Brahmins who treated the native dark-skinned people as 

unworthy of being humans. Though all countries in the world have suffered some 

form of racial discrimination, none have created such an immutable culture of spiritual untouchability. This culture spread across all of South Asia and seeped into 

her neighbors. It emerged out of racial practices that go back more than 

50,000years. As all ancient and medieval social systems became institutionalized as 

totemic religions by putting idol worship at the center, the Aryan religion combined 

totemic religion with rigorous spiritual inequality between light-skinned Aryans and 

dark-skinned Dravidians. It created a story of god that put the dark-skinned people 

of India as god’s unwilling creation from his feet. It named these dark people 

Sudras—literally meaning slaves—and created the first form of slavery known to 

man. Unlike later European and US slavery, Indian slavery is a spiritual one that 

makes the sufferers perpetual social, economic, and political slaves. 

This slavery was enforced in the form of brutal violence and barbarity. Tribes who 

were outside of the Aryan religion were kept untouchable by the Aryan priests. 

These people were darker-skinned and militant in nature. These groups had begun 

asserting their autonomy before being branded outcastes by the Brahmins. While 

17

the Sudras were not supposed to read and write the scriptures, the Dalits could not 

even enter the village community. This has not changed even after the independence of India. 

Two stories of Hindu gods show the violence of this religion: first, the story of the 

birth of the Ganapathy, whose image is being spread across the world, is quite revealing. 

Ganapathy was the son of the God Shiva. One day his mother, Parvathi, was 

bathing in her bathroom while her son kept watch at the gate so that nobody entered into the bathroom where his mother was bathing. Shiva suddenly came and 

wanted to enter into the bathroom to have his own time with his wife. When the 

boy objects his father chops off his son’s head and enters the bathroom. When 

Parvathi enquires about their son, the father realizes his mistake and chops off the 

head of their family elephant and adds that head to his son’s body and makes him 

relive. This is how the God with the elephant head was born. This story is repeated 

by every priest during the Vinayak Chavithi festival. 

This story indicates the patricidal nature of the Hindu God’s behavior. He not 

only does not hesitate to go into the bathroom of his wife, but he also does not hesitate to kill his own son for sake his sexual gratification. 

Then there is the famous story of Parushurama, a well-known member of ten incarnations of another Hindu God, Vishnu, who kills his mother, Renuka. Rama, the 

most famous God in existence, who called his birthplace India, was pushed into 

burning and inciting communal riots killing thousands of people, ordered his brother 

Laxmana to cut off the earlobes of Shurpanaka, a Dravidian woman and the sister 

of Ravana. Krishna, yet another famous Hindu God, kills his own maternal uncle. 

This saga of killing women and humiliating them, as well as killing children and 

relatives leaves a culture of violence in Brahminic Hinduism. 

The ongoing enslavement of the Dalits and Sudras across the Indian subcontinent 

left these low caste people with no choice but to seek alternatives to Hinduism. Most 

sought alternatives that rejected caste-based religion. Thus, Sri Lanka and Nepal 

became Buddhist, while Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan became Islamic. 

The people converting in these countries were all low caste, leading to a violent conflict between the low caste converts and their high caste rulers. Through this process, high caste leaders twisted the new religions to include some form of caste, leading to divisions within these religions between violent anti-caste camps and the 

more normal, spiritualized versions existent in other countries. Thus, in Afghanistan, Islam became the violent religion of hundreds of millions of angry low caste 

people who continued to fight against their caste-minded enemies for decades. 

Unfortunately, the violence associated with these religions and religious subgroups has continued. In Pakistan and Bangladesh, in particular, a militant form 

of Islam continues to grow in numbers and in influence even as the enemy changes 

from Brahminism to secular government. 

In India, hundreds of millions of low caste people are looking for a spiritual alternative to Hinduism. The first option being presented to them is Islam. More than 

two-thirds of the global Muslim population is on the Indian subcontinent. It is estimated that within decades India will have the largest Muslim population in the 

world. 

The historical presence of Islam has been a largely spiritual and social one, as 

remnants of Islamic invaders practiced their faith and grew in numbers. Recently, 

however, Islam has grown exponentially as many lower castes wanted an alternate 

spiritual life that gives them equaity. This type of growth led to the bifurcation of 

the country in 1947 as Muslims sought their own nation. Even after the bifurcation, 

tension between Muslims and Hindus continues and violence is widespread. Indian 

Muslims being the historically suppressed lower castes and Dalits they have an historical reason to be angry because the upper castes see them as the social mass who 

deserted and became free from their bondage. This situation lead to many religious 

riots in India.. Thus India became the place of violence and counter violence 

This is not to suggest that Islamic extremism is the only ideology that has tapped 

the pent-up low caste anger. In the 1970s many low-caste people adopted a violent 

Maoist identity. Calling themselves naxalites, these Dalits began to use the theory 

of counter violence through the Maoist movement. The Maoist movement continues 

to use violence means such as car bombs and landmines to kill and intimidate.. 

Rather than diffuse the anger mounting up against them by low caste people, 

upper caste politicians have continued to oppress the Dalits economically, spiritually, and politically. As Dalits try to convert to other religions such as Islam, 

Christianity, or Buddhism, the politicians have passed anti-conversion laws that 

perpetuate Dalit slavery. The democratic experiment in India has thus far failed: 

it is not a democracy but a caste-ocracy. Only the high caste can learn English, so 

only they can rule. Even the communists have let the Dalits down. As democracy 

18

has failed and the communists have failed, the Dalits and other lower castes have 

only become more and more angry and been more and more willing to be used. 

The United States must address the problem of caste within the context of the 

US-India relationship. The US should support the effort to abolish caste through the 

United Nations and other international bodies. Caste is a source of inequality that 

is listed alongside race, religion, gender, and language. As the world leader, the US 

must see the end of untouchability mandated in international forums. 

The United States must pressure India to allow freedom of religion for all people 

in India. Right now no Dalit can become a Hindu priest yet neither can any Dalit 

change his or her religion. This must end. Dalits and all castes should be able to 

convert in order to end spiritual slavery. 

The United States must support a form of reservation in the private sector. US 

companies must seek to hire Dalits so Dalits can enter the international economy. 

The creation of an intellectual class from the lower castes is of chief importance. 

We appreciate the efforts of US foundations like the Ford Foundation in giving 

scholarships for Dalits, Tribals, and other low caste students. I also want to thank 

the hundreds of Americans who have been financing the education of our children 

in the villages through Dalit Education Centers started by organizations like the 

Dalit Freedom Network in Denver, Colorado. Unfortunately, thousands of our engineers and other graduates cannot find jobs in the Indian economy because of caste 

discrimination. Even firms contracted from America are in the hands of upper caste 

owners. Employment in these firms is based on caste connections. America can build 

the confidence of Dalits, Tribals, and Other Backward Castes by giving qualified low 

caste people a priority in Visa distribution. 

The US must conditionally earmark aid to India to provide for English education 

for low castes. All donations coming from the US to India should only be counted 

as tax-exempt if the receiving organizations guarantee admission to Dalit, Tribal, 

and Other Backward Caste children. Even now, the VHP raises funds in the United 

States that are tax deductible and sends this money to India to enforce caste and 

keep untouchability. This must stop. No organization should receive US money if 

it practices caste and untouchability. 

The United Nations, World Bank, and IMF should have development guidelines 

that address the problem of caste in India. Right now this is not the case. For example, the World Bank gives money for education development without putting any 

condition on the medium of instruction. Thus, the government of India is paid to 

teach Dalits and Tribals their local languages without teaching them English, which 

is the language of the parliament. To resolve this and other problems, the IMF and 

World Bank should invite Dalit, Tribal, and OBC organizations into development 

dialogues and hire low caste inspectors to ensure the dollars are changing the situation for low caste people.

Mr. SMITH. Professor, thank you very much, and without objection, your full statement will be made a part of the record and that 

of all of our witnesses. 

STATEMENT OF MS. INDIRA SINGH ATHWALE, ALL INDIA CONFEDERATION OF SCHEDULED CASTES/SCHEDULED TRIBES 

ORGANIZATIONS 

Ms. ATHWALE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Congressmen of the 

Subcommittee. I would like to submit my written testimony for the 

record and present to you a brief summary of my views. 

India had just celebrated 59 years of independence and we boast 

about being the largest democracy in the world. Yet, there is no 

independence or democracy for the large portion of the population 

that is Dalit women. Women are victims of atrocities, slavery and 

exploitation related to the ongoing practice of caste. Her oppression 

is threefold, as a woman, as a Dalit, and as the poor. The Dalit 

woman must fight at all three levels every day. 

The problem of caste as it affects women is not well documented 

and not sufficiently addressed. You might be quite aware about the 

talks in the Beijing Conference where discussion on various reported developments since the 1985 Nairobi Conference were held. 

In this draft, 12 sectors reach out important for the equality and 

19

development of women that cause barriers in the equality of 

women were charted out. Those are poverty, education, health, exploitation and violence, armed conflicts, racial and other conflicts, 

economic participation, participation in decisionmaking and power, 

national and international organizations, human rights, media, environment and development, girl-child development, et cetera. 

However, the issue of exploitation to caste-based discrimination 

was left untouched. 

Dalit women are victims of rape and molestation. No one will disagree to the fact that sexual molestation is the worst kind of humiliation. This weapon is used in India not only to insult them, but 

also to silence voices raised against exploitation and to enforce the 

caste system. According to the latest report of National Scheduled 

Caste and Scheduled Tribe Commission, 5,000 reports of rape 

against Dalit women were registered in 1 year. This is just the recorded cases. There are thousands if not tens of thousands that are 

unrecorded. The Dalit woman cannot stay at home. She works and 

must travel far from her home on hostile roads. 

So exploitation and violence at the workplace for Dalit women is 

the big issue. Female Dalit workers are alone in the workplace, 

beaten just because they are Dalit. They find little help from nonDalit women organizations. A bonded laborer named—I would like 

to go to one case here, a bonded laborer named Vijabai Pawal, a 

Dalit woman, was made naked and then beaten by the owner of a 

brickmaking factory. The woman had come to try and retrieve her 

son and daughter-in-law, who had been held as bonded laborers by 

the owner of the factory. 

Women have been given reservation in the local governing bodies 

on the basis of caste by the 73rd amendment to the Constitution 

of India. Many Dalit and Tribal women have become heads of the 

governing council, however, as there is no change in the Brahmin 

mentality and therefore these women have been humiliated and attacked also. There is greater conspiracy to end their political aspirations by not paying any respect to her constitutional status. 

Moreover, they have been abused, physically attacked and threatened with killing, as well. 

Denying access to drinking water to Dalit women. Water is no 

one’s private property anywhere. It is the most natural and should 

be equally accessible to any living human being. However, in 1927, 

Dr. Ambedkar had to fight for water. He launched the education 

for water from the Lake of Mahad in Maharashtra and he set the 

water on fire to give access to all Dalits. Through this fight, he 

gave them the right to be equal human beings. Unfortunately, 

nothing has changed since then. Today we do not have water taps 

or hand pumps in Dalit localities. To collect this, they have to walk 

miles every day. They also have to be silent victims of verbal 

abuse, insult and even inhuman beatings. Many times, the whole 

village also boycotts the Dalits. And this is one of the most powerful weapons they have been regularly using against the helpless 

minorities in villages. Even today, water is given to Dalits from 

above. They take great care of not touching the person or their 

pots. They have also not been allowed to touch or go near the public water wells in villages, so they have to sit aside, waiting for 

someone to come and again pray that he pours water in their pots. 

20

The following incidents will speak for themselves, I have submitted 

with the paper there. 

So then again, I would like to quote some atrocities, violence during the celebration of birth anniversaries, stop and terrorize the 

Dalit women. Dalits and many Backwards celebrate the birth anniversaries of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. Rallies and other cultural programs are held on different dates in the month of April so as not 

to coincide with other holidays and special events. These events are 

hated by the upper-castes and therefore this is one of the most conflict-prone periods of the year. 

It is crystal clear that even today, the caste system is the weapon 

of choice against women in India. Women’s organizations here in 

India must look to the roots of this system to address the problems 

of caste. Caste must end for Dalit women to be free. 

Dalit women must be given the right to own land outright and 

should be able to co-sign for land records with their husbands. This 

will insure that Dalit women have the ability to feed their families 

should their husbands leave or pass away. 

The caste courts across India must be closed down. There must 

be a separate women’s commission at the national level to deal 

with our issues. Dalit and Tribal women must be given every opportunity educationally. Foreign support should be geared toward 

uplifting women through female schools. 

I want to close by saying that Dalit women are not weak and 

helpless but are revolutionary. They do not take exploitation sitting 

down and will work to find justice. Unfortunately, right now in 

India, there is no justice to be found. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Athwale follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MS. INDIRA SINGH ATHWALE, ALL INDIA CONFEDERATION

OF SCHEDULED CASTES/SCHEDULED TRIBES ORGANIZATIONS

THRICE OPPRESSED: CASTE VIOLENCE AGAINST DALIT WOMEN

India has just celebrated 59 years of independence and we boast about being the 

largest democracy in the world. Yet, there is no independence, no democracy for a 

large portion of the population: Dalit women. Women are daily the victims of atrocities, slavery, and exploitation related to the ongoing practice of caste. Her oppression is threefold: as a woman, as a Dalit, and as the poor. The Dalit woman must 

fight at all three levels every day. 

If we look at the women’s movement in India we see that the non-Dalit women’s 

organizations have taken up issues related to dowry, divorce, and abandoned 

women. These organizations have been spreading awareness about violence against 

women and are working to prove that violence is not just a personal matter. This 

movement has given birth to institutions to protect women’s interests and prevent 

atrocities against non-Dalit women. Additionally, these movements have bred family 

courts and women’s cells in police stations. Now torture by a husband or a relative 

cannot be seen as just a personal family issue, but is known as a crime. Today the 

movement has even started heated debates about the issue of parliamentary reservation for women. 

Placing Dalit women in all of these advances is a horrific journey backwards. The 

problem of caste as it affects women is not well-documented and not sufficiently addressed. You might be quite aware about the talks in the Beijing Conference where 

discussion on various reported developments since the 1985 Nairobi Conference 

were held. In this draft, twelve sectors (sectors important for the equality and development of women) that cause barriers in the equality of women were charted out: 

poverty, education, health, exploitation and violence, armed conflicts, racial and 

other conflicts, economic participation, participation in decision making and power 

in national and international organizations, human rights, media, environment and 

development, girl child development, etc. However, the issue of exploitation through 

caste-based discrimination was left untouched. 

21

I want to highlight some reported cases of atrocities against Dalit women in different fields of life from Maharashtra and around India. Each of these areas of life 

is significant for the development and protection of family, community, and nation, 

and I hope you will see the threat that these attacks pose to Dalit women across 

India. 

I. Dalit Victims of Rape and Molestation 

No one disagrees with the fact that sexual molestation is the worst kind of humiliation. This weapon is used in India not only to insult Dalit women, but also to silence voices raised against exploitation and to enforce the caste system. According 

to the 28th report of the National Scheduled Caste / Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) Commission, 3,998 reports of rape against Dalits were registered in one year. These are 

just the recorded cases—there are thousands if not tens of thousands that are unrecorded. The Dalit woman cannot stay at home—she works and must travel far from 

her home on hostile roads. 

Pandu Dhure and women from his family were sowing in their field in Dhorani 

village when young upper caste boys starting dancing in his field. When Mr. Dhure 

tried to stop them, the youths molested his women. 

In a village in the Jalgaon district, an upper caste boy molested a Dalit girl before 

their tenth standard (Grade Ten) examinations. The Dalit boys came to her defense 

until the upper caste boy retrieved 15 of his friends and beat the Dalit boys. Later, 

a mob of 100 upper caste men attacked the Dalit section of the village. That section 

of the village now lives in fear. 

II. Exploitation and violence in the workplace for Dalits 

Female Dalit workers are alone in the workplace. Beaten simply because they are 

Dalits, they find little help from non-Dalit women’s organizations. 

A bonded laborer named Vijabai Pawal, a Dalit woman, was stripped naked and 

then beaten by the owner of a brick-making factory. This woman had come to try 

and retrieve her son and daughter-in-law who had been held as bonded laborers by 

the owner of the factory. 

The family of Devidas Sabane was working on the farm of a former Member of 

Parliament (MP) when it was utterly destroyed by caste discrimination. When the 

farmer’s son fell ill, Devidas went to the MP’s brother to demand money for his 

treatment. In response, the MP’s brother beat Devidas and forced poison down his 

throat. Devidas died in the hospital that day. As Mrs. Vaishali tried to find justice, 

she was turned away by the police and the State Human Rights Commission. She 

later committed suicide. 

III. Barriers in Local and Self-Governance 

Women have been given reservation in the local governing bodies on the basis of 

caste by the 73rd amendment to the Constitution of India. Many Dalit and Tribal 

women have become Sarpanch (head of the village governing council); however, as 

there has been no change in the Manuvadi Brahmin mentality, these women have 

been humiliated and attacked also. There is a greater conspiracy to end their political aspirations by not paying any respect to her constitutional status. Moreover, 

they have been abused, physically attacked and threatened with death as well. 

In August 2004, the female Sarpanch of Vajreshwari Grampanchayat village in 

Bhivandi Taluka from Thane District (neighboring Mumbai, Maharashtra), was reviewing the money spent on development work in a meeting. During this meeting, 

an upper caste member of the village council, Mr. Sitaram Patil, announced that 

Tribals do not understand the administration of the council and they should not 

interfere in the proceedings or they would be thrown out of the hall. In this same 

meeting hall, he verbally abused her because of her caste. The Ganeshpuri Police 

Staion should have registered the offence under the atrocities act, but the police recorded it only under IPC 504 and 506. 

Ms. Kiran Bansode is a dalit Sarpanch of village Karvadi in Karad Taluka from 

Satara District. In the general body meeting (Gramsabha) the former Sarpanch Mr. 

Balashaeb Suryawanshi and his supporters in the presence of villagers and administrative officers pulled her away from her chair and abused her in the name of her 

caste and beat her inhumanly. 

IV: Denying Dalits Access to Drinking Water 

Water is private property of no one anywhere; it is the most natural of elements 

and should be equally accessible to any living being. However in 1927, Dr. 

Ambedkar had to fight for water; he launched his agitation for water from the lake 

of Mahad in Maharashtra and set the water on fire to give access to all Dalits. 

Through this fight he gave them the right to be equal human beings. Unfortunately, 

nothing has changed since then. Today we do not have water taps or hand pumps 

22

in Dalit localities. To collect water they have to walk many miles every day. They 

also have to be silent victims of verbal abuse, insult and even inhuman beatings. 

Many times the whole village boycotts the Dalits. This is one of the most powerful 

weapons they have been regularly using against the helpless minority in villages. 

This is more torturous than the tsunami, Rita or Katrina because those are natural 

calamities and do not bring humiliation along with them. Even today in hundreds 

of villages water is given to Dalits from above, taking great care of not touching 

the person or their pot. They have also not been allowed to touch or go near the 

public water wells in villages. They must sit to the side waiting for someone to come 

and pray that he pours water in their pots. The following incidents will speak for 

themselves. 

In Osmanpur village, Taluka Partur, District Jalna, a Dalit community was attacked by upper caste residents on the issue of water. Three Dalit women were injured. On June 15, 2004, Dalit women went to fetch water from a public well in 

the railway station area. The upper caste women threw away the pots of the Dalit 

women saying that their pots touched and polluted those of the upper caste. They 

were also threatened not to fill water from there. After some time, the upper caste 

residents pelted stones and bricks on houses of Dalits, and some even entered into 

their houses and beat them. Ashabai Dhoke and others were three women who were 

seriously injured, while the whole community was under great threat. Though 19 

complaints were booked under Civil Rights Protection Act (CRPA) [formerly Prevention of Atrocities Act], nobody has been arrested so far. 

In village Varnjala, District Jalana, again there was conflict between Dalit women 

and upper caste people. Some Dalit women had gone to fetch water from the public 

well. Dalit men and women were badly beaten, and their section of the village was 

by boycotted by the upper caste residents. Dalits could not buy provisions from 

upper caste shops, could not grind their grains in upper caste flour mills, and could 

not find any work on farms or at other places. Many young boys left the village because they fear further attack. Because of agitation by Dalit organizations and Dalit 

political parties, the district social welfare officer reported the boycott to the District 

Collector and the superintendent of police, but the administration seemed completely negligent and passive about the whole incident. 

V. Violence during Celebration of Birth Anniversaries 

Buddhists, Dalits and many Backwards celebrate the birth anniversaries of Lord 

Buddha and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. Rallies and other cultural programs are held on 

different dates in the month of April so as not to coincide with other holidays and 

special events. These events are hated by the upper castes and therefore this is one 

of the most conflict prone periods of the year. 

On the occasion of the birth anniversary of Dr. Ambedkar, one such rally was organized in Devkurali village, Tuljapur Taluka, Osmanabad District. On April 25, 

2005, the rally was stopped when it arrived at the Hanuman temple. The Dalit 

women were molested and manhandled because they allegedly touched the temple. 

The Police had been already informed by Dalits of the possibility of such an attack 

in an effort to avoid any such untoward incident. Sadly, however, no police personnel had turned up. The rally was turned back from that point without completing the intended route. The very next day 100 to 150 upper caste people pelted 

stones at the Dalit neighborhood. The shop of a Dalit man, Mr. Arun Thorat, was 

set on fire. Shridevi Thorat, a young woman, was badly injured when they went to 

the Temalvadi Police Station to register a complaint where they were delayed. The 

victims were accused. Their community was boycotted, but the District Collector and 

the Police Chief are denying any such event, as they have no report of it on paper. 

VI. More Exploitation 

Dalit women are abused by the federal and state governments. Dalit women are 

often attacked for the smallest of reasons. Dalit women have no access to health 

care facilities or to education. Given time, I could give you examples for each one 

of these statements. This last issue in particular, education, I could talk to you 

about for hours. Dalit women have a 90.95% dropout rate by the tenth standard. 

This means that less than one in ten of our Dalit girls will finish school. They will 

then have no opportunities for betterment later in life. 

VII. Conclusion 

It is crystal clear that even today the caste system is the weapon of choice against 

women in India. Women’s organizations here and in India must look to the roots 

of this system to address the problems of caste. Caste must end for Dalit women 

to be free. 

23

Dalit women must be given the right to own land outright and should be able to 

co-sign for land records with their husbands. This will ensure that Dalit women 

have the ability to feed their families should their husbands leave or pass away. 

The caste courts across India must be closed down. These courts are constituted 

of rich, powerful upper caste people who use the courts to abuse low caste women. 

These courts have handed down awful judgments that skew the relationship of a 

man to his wife. For example, the caste court in Bheena village in the state of 

Madhya Pradesh allows kidnappings of married women. The judges of the Bheena 

caste court decided that women were of no person and therefore could be traded like 

animals. This type of practice could end if the caste courts were removed. 

There must be a separate women’s commission at the national level to deal with 

our issues. 

Dalit and Tribal women must be given every opportunity educationally. Foreign 

support should be geared towards uplifting women through exclusively female 

schools. 

I want to close by saying that Dalit women are not weak and helpless but are, 

on the contrary, revolutionary! They do not take exploitation sitting down and will 

work to find justice. Unfortunately, right now in India there is no justice to be 

found. 

Thank you.

Mr. SMITH. Ms. Athwale, thank you very much for your very passionate and very disturbing statement. This does help this Committee, I think, get a greater understanding of the severity of these 

crimes and this pervasive discrimination, so thank you. 

Ms. ATHWALE. Thank you. 

Mr. SMITH. Dr. D’Souza? 

STATEMENT OF JOSEPH D’SOUZA, PH.D., PRESIDENT, DALIT 

FREEDOM NETWORK 

Mr. D’SOUZA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Esteemed Members 

of the Congress for providing us this opportunity and having this 

Subcommittee hearing. We, of course, welcome the new era of the 

close United States/India relationship that is developing. And we 

welcome Prime Minister Singh’s comprehensive statement and 

agreement he signed with President Bush to develop Indo/U.S. relationships further. 

India is a great nation, it has great people, and it will occupy its 

rightful place as a global leader in the comity of nations. However, 

we have to affirm that this will not happen unless the caste system 

is abolished and, along with it, the terrible discrimination against 

Dalits in present day India. 

India’s tragedy is that society continues the practice of the caste 

system, with the rule of law not being applied when Dalits are 

being discriminated against, even though the practice of untouchability stands abolished by the Constitution. 

I am sure we have noted the point made by two of our speakers 

that while untouchability stands abolished, caste has never been 

abolished by the Indian Constitution. Year after year, the main 

government commission known as the ST/SC Commission, tables 

its reports in Parliament on the atrocities and discrimination 

against Dalits, but there is no action taken. Our speakers have also 

referred to the restorative justice element provided by our Constitution in the reservation system. If it was not for this, I submit 

we would not have seen any Dalit leadership and intellectuals 

emerging from these communities in modern day India, leadership 

that today campaigns for the abolishment of caste and even is 

present in this very room. 

24

I want to focus our attention on an interesting twist that ended 

up in blatant discrimination against Dalit Christians, which was a 

Presidential Order of 1950, which stated that the benefits that the 

Constitution earmarked for Dalits would be only given to those 

Dalits who subscribed to Hinduism. The argument given then was 

that since Buddhism, Sikhism, Christianity did not teach the practice of the caste system, Dalits who had converted to these religions 

would not receive these benefits in the social, economic areas. In 

one stroke, the Presidential ordinance violated the constitutional 

provision which states that the state will not discriminate on the 

basis of religion. Again, the state became guilty of using affirmation action benefits to keep Dalits enchained within the caste system. 

Dalit Sikhs and Dalit Buddhists campaigned long and hard to 

have the benefits extended to them. Their argument was potent. 

Caste in India is a social stigma and an identity that does not vanish when Dalits turn to another religion. Their Dalit stigma goes 

with them. Dalit discrimination goes with them. Wider society still 

stigmatizes, oppresses and discriminates because they are Dalits. 

Their socio-economic conditions do not change and the long history 

of exploitation does not come to an end when they adopt a noncasteist faith. 

After a long campaign, both Dalit Sikhs and Dalit Buddhists had 

the benefits restored to them. But curiously, Dalit Christians were 

not given these benefits and continued to be oppressed because of 

the denial of these rights. 

Archbishop Chinnappa of Tamil Nadu, himself a Dalit, points 

out:

‘‘The usual argument posed against the extension of reservation to Dalit Christians is that there is no caste system in 

Christianity. This is right, Christianity does not preach any 

caste discrimination, but the situation in India is different. 

Our society is based on the caste system. From cradle to grave, 

caste considerations rule the roost. Dalits of all religions live 

in the same society ruled by caste values. A change of religion 

does not alter the social-economic status of Dalits. The social 

stigma and ostracism in society continue to haunt them wherever they go. A Dalit is considered untouchable, irrespective of 

the religious faith he or she may profess. As for atrocities, 

there is no discrimination between atrocities committed 

against a Hindu Dalit and a Christian Dalit.’’

Furthermore, the Archbishop, commenting on the Presidential 

Order of 1950 says:

‘‘The Order violates the letter and spirit of many articles of 

our Constitution. Article 15 which says: ‘The State shall not 

discriminate against any citizen only on grounds of religion, 

race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.’ But here we see 

the state itself discriminating on the basis of religion within a 

given caste group. Article 25 reads: ‘. . . all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practice and propagate religion.’ But the Order denies the 

freedom of religion to Dalits. In fact, it amounts to forced inducement or allurement by the state by offering constitutional 

25

protection and privileges to Dalits in order to stay in a religion, 

and by punishing them by withdrawing the same benefits if 

they dared to profess a religion of their choice.’’

Mr. Chairman, a number of commissions and even the Supreme 

Court have vindicated the stand taken by Dalit Christians, that the 

change of religion does not change their status ad identify in society. One of the quotes from a Supreme Court ruling reads as follows:

‘‘. . . to deny [Dalit Christians] the constitutional protection 

of reservation solely by reason of change of faith or religion is 

to endanger the very concept of Secularism and the raison 

d’etre of reservations.’’

Now in a current and recent development due to the filing of a 

petition in the Supreme Court by a human rights organization and 

a Dalit Christian lawyer, which asks for a review of the Presidential Order of 1950, the Supreme Court has asked the government to give a response. The present government, once again in a 

delay tactic, asked for more time and announced that it has passed 

the matter to another commission. On October 18, 2005, this petition comes for hearing again in the Supreme Court, by which time 

the Government of India has to answer. The petitioners are asking 

for a bill in Parliament to be treated the same as any other Indian 

citizen. It is simply amazing that 70 percent of India’s 30 million 

Christians who are Dalits have been denied these benefits for 50 

years that rightly should be theirs. 

We have issued an appeal to the Government of India, heads of 

political parties and members of Parliament. I request that you include this statement, this appeal, in the record. In closing, I want 

to thank you that you are considering the issue and how this issue 

impacts the future and the growth of the Indo/U.S. relationships. 

Whether or not one agrees with the system of reservation, we must 

agree that denying a constitutional right to a large percentage of 

the population based solely on religion is illegal and immoral. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. D’Souza follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF JOSEPH D’SOUZA, PH.D., PRESIDENT, DALIT FREEDOM

NETWORK AND MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD

India is a great nation and it will occupy its rightful place as a global leader in 

the comity of nations. But it will not happen unless the caste system is abolished 

and along with it the terrible discrimination against Dalits in present day India. 

No nation can achieve its true greatness and potential if a vast majority of its 

people are discriminated against on the basis of descent and occupation. Caste discrimination and prejudice in the new India continues to banish nearly a quarter of 

its population, a size equal to the population of the US, to a world of abuse, exploitation, bonded child labor, sex trafficking, landlessness, illiteracy, dehumanization 

and disempowerment. 

This has been described by Dalit leaders as India’s silently sustaining apartheid 

against its own people based on an evil and sinister grading and classification of 

society on the basis of birth and the accompanying occupation. This takes away the 

dignity of human identity and the dignity of labor as labor gets classified into that 

which is ‘‘pure’’ and ‘‘impure’’. Working with the skin of dead animals for example 

is an ‘‘impure’’ occupation and consigned to the ‘‘untouchables’’ or ‘‘Dalits’’. You will 

never see anywhere in India a ‘‘brahmin’’ caste person ever working with the skin 

of dead animals. Nor will you ever see a ‘‘brahmin’’ caste person ever cleaning the 

toilets, or even tilling the land because that, too, is the work of the ‘‘Dalits’’. 

26

India’s tragedy is that society continues the practice of the caste system even 

though the practice of untouchability stands abolished by the Constitution. Year 

after year the statutory ST/SC commission tables its reports in Parliament on the 

atrocities and discrimination against Dalits but there is no action taken. 

One element of restorative justice provided in the Constitution was ‘‘reservation’’, 

a quota system, for Dalits. If it was not for this we would have not seen any Dalit 

leadership and intellectuals emerging from those communities in modern day India, 

leadership that today campaigns for the abolishment of caste. 

However in an interesting twist that ended up in blatant discrimination against 

Dalit Christians, a Presidential order of 1950 provided affirmative action only for 

Dalits who subscribed to Hinduism and kept the suffering of caste and untouchability. The argument was that since Buddhism, Sikhism, Christianity and Islam 

did not teach the practice of the caste system, Dalits who had converted to these 

religions would not receive ‘‘affirmative action’’. 

In one stroke, this Presidential ordinance violated the Constitutional provision 

which states the State will not discriminate on the basis of religion. Again the State 

became guilty of using ‘‘affirmative action’’ benefits to keep Dalits enchained within 

the Hindu caste system. 

Dalit Sikhs and Dalit Buddhists campaigned long and hard to have the the affirmative action benefits extended to them. Their argument was potent: Caste is a 

social stigma and an identity that does not vanish when Dalits turn to another religion. Their Dalit stigma goes with them. Dalit discrimination goes with them. Wider 

society still stigmatizes, oppresses and discriminates against them because they are 

Dalits. Their socio-economic conditions do not change and the long history of exploitation does not come to an end when they adopt a non-casteist faith. 

After a long campaign, both Dalit Sikhs and Dalit Buddhists had the affirmative 

action benefits restored to them. 

But Dalit Christians continued to be oppressed because of the denial of 

‘‘affimative action’’ to them. 

As Archbishop Chinnappa of Tamil Nadu, himself a Dalit, points out: 

‘‘The usual argument posed against the extension of reservation to Dalit Christians is that there is no caste system in Christianity. This is right. Christianity does 

not preach any caste discrimination. But the situation in India is different. Our society is based on the caste system. From cradle to grave, caste considerations rule the 

roost. Dalits of all religions live in the same society ruled by caste values. A change 

of religion does not alter the socio-economic status of Dalits. The social stigma and 

ostracism in society continue to haunt them wherever they go. A Dalit is considered 

untouchable, irrespective of the religious faith he or she may profess. As for atrocities, there is no discrimination between a Hindu Dalit and a Christian Dalit.’’

Furthermore, the Archbishop, commenting on the Presidential order of 1950 says: 

‘‘The Order violates the letter and spirit of many articles of our Constitution. Article 15 says: ‘The State shall not discriminate against any citizen only on grounds 

of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.’ But here we see the state 

itself discriminating on the basis of religion within a given caste group. Article 25 

reads: ‘. . . all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right 

to freely profess, practice and propagate religion.’ But the Order denies the freedom 

of religion to Dalits. In fact, it amounts to forced inducement or allurement by the 

state by offering constitutional protection and privileges to Dalits in order to stay 

in a religion and by punishing them by withdrawing the same benefits if they dared 

to profess a religion of their choice.’’

A number of Commissions and even the Supreme Court have vindicated the stand 

taken by Dalit Christians that the change of religion does not change their status 

and identity in society—it will afford them a way out from a religion that teaches 

the caste system as something that has come from the creation order of God. One 

of the Supreme Court’s rulings has the following paragraph in it: 

‘‘. . . to deny [Dalit Christians] the constitutional protection of reservation solely 

by reason of change of faith or religion is to endanger the very concept of Secularism 

and the raison d’etre of reservations.’’ (Art. 271 of the Mandal Case Judgment. Cfr. 

Page No. 367, Vol. 6. No. 9, Nov. 30, 1992, Judgment Today.) 

Now in a recent development due to the filing of a petition in the Supreme Court 

by a human rights organization and a Dalit Christian lawyer which asks for a review of the Presidential order of 1950 as it violates the fundamental rights of Dalit 

Christians, the Supreme Court asked for the Government’s response to this petition. 

The present UPA government once again in a delay tactic asked for more time 

and announced that it has passed the matter to a commission. On October 18, 2005, 

this petition comes for hearing again in the Supreme Court by which time the Government of India has to give its answer. The petitioners are asking for a bill in Parliament which will give the same affirmative action as given to other Dalits. 

27

It is simply amazing that nearly 70% of India’s 30 million Christians who are 

Dalits have been denied basic benefits that rightly should be theirs. The All India 

Christian Council has issued the following appeal to the Government of India, heads 

of political parties and Members of Parliament. I ask that you include this statement in the record. 

In closing, I want to ask that you consider the impact the United States Congress 

has on the inner workings of India, especially when it comes to an issue as important as religious freedom. Whether or not you agree with the system of reservation, 

you must agree that denying a constitutional right to a large percentage of the population based solely on religion is illegal and immoral. Your willingness to support 

the Christian Dalits in this cause will send a message to the rest of the world that 

the United States supports religious freedom in all countries at all times. 

Thank you. 

All India Christian Council, 

Hyderabad, 

India, 

August 25th , 2005

APPEAL FOR RESTORAITON OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS TO DALIT CHRISTIANS

Christian Dalits continue to suffer for their allegiance to the Christian faith. They 

are discriminated against both within the Church and outside of the Church. Their 

rights are trampled upon. Their very existence is one of misery and suffering. 

On behalf of all Dalit Christians, the All India Christian Council (aicc) seeks immediate steps to amend the Presidential Constitutional Scheduled Caste Order 

1950, Paragraph 3 [Promulgated in the Union of India, Ministry of Law notification 

No SRO 385 (CO 19) dated 10.08.1950]. This is to see that Christians of Scheduled 

Caste origin are treated as Schedule Castes for availing themselves of the reservation benefits under Articles 330, 332, 334, 335, 338, 341, 366 (24). 

According to the 1991 Census, Dalit Christians constitute about 75 per cent of the 

total Christian population in India. Yet educationally, culturally and economically, 

Dalit Christians are treated as people who have no rights and they occupy the lowest position in society. 

Realising their plight in the Church and outside, Dr BR Ambedkar had strongly 

condemned the suppression and oppression of Dalit Christians. Mahatma Gandhi in 

his newspaper ‘Harijan’ dated 26.12.1936 supported the cause of Dalit Christians. 

Even former Deputy Prime Minister Babu Jagjivan Ram openly voiced his concern 

over their plight and fought for their rights. 

The Christian Council therefore seeks necessary steps as per Article 341 (1) to 

amend the Presidential Constitutional Scheduled Caste Order 1950, paragraph 3. 

The 1950 Order stands against Articles 15 (2), 16 (2) 29 (2), the Freedom of Religious Act, the Removal of Caste Disabilities Act 1850 and the Hindu Succession Act 

1925. The Union of India’s high power panel on Minorities, Schedule Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Weaker Sections, in its 1983 report observed that earlier disabilities continued for Dalit Christians even after leaving the Hindu fold to the 

Christian faith. 

The National Commission on Minorities has recently recommended the extension 

of statutory benefits to SC Christians as Schedule Castes. According to the Government of India, Ministry of Welfare, note to the Union Cabinet No 12016/30/90—SCD 

(R Cell), the Proposal of the Ministry of Welfare has been corroborated as a positive 

step. Paragraph 26 of the Proposal says:

‘‘Taking these factors into consideration, the Ministry of Welfare proposes 

that recognition of Scheduled Caste converts to Christianity as Scheduled 

Castes be accepted. This will require amendment by an Act of Parliament to 

the relevant provisions of the Constitutional Scheduled Castes Order, 1950.’’

Paragraph 32 of the Proposal contains the observations made by the Joint Secretary to the Union Government of India: ‘‘In the light of the above, the approval 

of the Cabinet is solicited on the proposal in Para 26 to include Christian converts 

from the Scheduled Castes as Schedule Castes through amendments to be effected 

by an Act of Parliament.’’

It may be recalled when the special reporter on UN Human Rights Commission 

on Religious Intolerance questioned the prevailing inequality against Dalit Christians of India way back in 1997, the Law Secretary, Union Government, positively 

acknowledged such a practice. According to Document Ref No E/CN.4/1997/91 Add 

28

1 Dated 14.02.97, ‘‘Equality should be given to Dalit Christians by making proper 

amendment in Parliament.’’

National Convention of the Parliamentary Forum of SCs and STs passed a resolution on 16–17 June 1992 in New Delhi to extend Scheduled Castes reservation facilities to Dalit Christians. A memorandum signed by about 200 members of Parliament was submitted to then Prime Minister PV Narashimha Rao. A reminder 

memorandum signed by 54 members of Parliament was submitted to PV Narasimha 

Rao on 17.08.1993. Another memorandum signed by 325 members of Parliament 

was submitted to him in May 1995. In all at least 500 MPs signed in one or the 

other memoranda to the Prime Minister on the issue of extending SC reservation 

to Dalit Christians. 

Various State Governments and Commissions like the Mandal Commission, the 

Backward Class Commission of Andhra Pradesh, the Kumara Pillai Commission Report in Kerala, the Elayaperumal Commission, the Satananthan Commission, the 

Chidambaram Commission Report, the Kaka Kalelkar Commission Reports and 

Union Minorities Commission Reports had recommended to the Central and State 

Governments to extend SC reservation privileges to Dalit Christians. 

The Supreme Court on a number of occasions had clearly given verdicts to support 

Dalit Christians. The only legislation directly impinging on caste autonomy was the 

Caste Disabilities Removal Act (Act XXI of 1850 also known as the Freedom of Religious Act), which provided forfeiture of civil or property rights ‘by reason of renouncing or having been excluded from the communion of, any religion or being deprived 

of caste.’

Although Sikhism and Buddhism do not recognise caste system, Dalit Sikhs and 

Buddhists are given SC Reservation privileges. In the same manner, Tribal Christians are considered as socially backward people and they are treated as Tribals. 

And no religion is referred to while giving privileges to Tribal Christians. In the 

same manner Dalit Christians may be extended Scheduled Caste reservation privileges. 

In 1997 the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights published a 

Letter Document Ref No E / CN 4 / 1997 / 91 / Add I dated 14.02.1997 on religious 

intolerance prevailing in India. As a written reply, the Union of India’s secretary 

had agreed to solve the injustice done to Dalit Christians by giving them equal 

Scheduled Caste privileges through necessary legislations. The above document from 

the law secretary is cogent authoritative testimonial evidence from the Central Government. 

All these, prime facie, are evidences to substantiate the stand taken by the Christian Council. Even in Parliament, Union Ministers had given positive assurances on 

umpteen occasions. According to the Parliamentary Assurances Committee’s rules 

and regulations, the assurances are the positive cogent authoritative evidences to 

prove Dalit Christians’ social, educational, economical and cultural backwardness. 

On behalf of the suffering Dalit Christians, aicc seeks immediate measures to end 

the ill-treatment meted out to Dalit Christians and see that they are treated as people of Scheduled Caste origin, enjoying all the benefits reserved for the Scheduled 

Castes. 

Signed: 

DR JOSEPH D’SOUZA, President, 

All India Christian Council

Mr. SMITH. Dr. D’Souza, thank you so very much for your testimony and the appeal that you mentioned will be made a part of 

the record, so thank you for that. Mr. Kumar? 

STATEMENT OF MR. T. KUMAR, ADVOCACY DIRECTOR, ASIA 

AND PACIFIC, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL 

Mr. KUMAR. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and Members 

of Congress. Amnesty International is extremely pleased that you 

are taking a leadership on this issue which is being forgotten in the 

large part, not only internationally, but even inside India. With the 

exception of a few activists, it has been sidelined. 

So on that note, we would like to congratulate the Congress for 

taking the lead and Chairman, in particular, yourself, for shining 

the light on this sad situation in India. 

29

I would like to summarize what was said earlier here. In a nutshell, Hinduism, which has been practiced for thousands of years, 

has different castes designated from top to bottom. There is one 

particular group of people who were moved outside the caste system, because of the nature of the jobs they do, very menial, downtrodden jobs. They have been called untouchables. 

The sad reality is they are not allowed, they were not allowed to 

go into temples or any social interaction, so they were pretty much 

kept outside of the social structure. And the Hindu religion basically sanctioned that. During the British time, there were moves to 

rectify that, but as any colonial power, they were not interested in 

solving the social issues, they were interested in holding the country together. 

So after the Independence, because of quite a few Dalit leaders, 

including Dr. Ambedkar who himself was one of the famous freedom fighters, the Indian Constitution had a special provision abolishing untouchability and to give special protection to Dalits, the 

so-called untouchables. 

There is a remarkable challenge that took place more than 56 

years ago. In that context, they opened up 16.5 percent at that 

time, of the basic population, to members of Parliament, including 

all the way from top to bottom, to Dalit population. Education and 

employment was also reserved. 

But all these things, after 50 years, never really changed in a 

meaningful way, the suffering the Dalits are undergoing there, that 

is the key that we have to look into. They have been humiliated, 

abused, basically, with impunity. Dalit women suffer double discrimination being women on one side and Dalit being the other 

side. Women have been gang raped, brutalized, paraded naked as 

a form of humiliation, to punish the community when they try to 

voice their anger over the system or the male relatives. 

Men also fear gruesome abuses, torture, killing, death in custody 

and all the rest of it. There are two reasons for this. Number one, 

the power of the community, the landowners, are always uppercaste, so that is one of the root causes. The powerless, economic 

power rests there, and also political power, despite the fact there 

are 16.5 percent quota being given for political in the Parliament 

and all the way to the municipality and the village councils. The 

power still stood with the higher-caste people. And it trickled down 

to the police, so police also took sides. So they work with the bad 

landlords in the form of abusing, destroying the houses, burning 

the houses and also looking the other way when Dalits tried to 

complain and tried to find justice for injustice that has happened 

against them. 

As I mentioned earlier, the Constitution provided protection. 

Then there were certain laws that were passed specifically to protect Dalits against humiliation, parading naked women, parading 

women naked, raping, burning houses. All these were lumped together in a particular law that has very severe punishment. So how 

the police do it, they don’t register these cases under those laws. 

They will register those cases under different laws, so that the 

punishment will be much less. And also, they will go after the Dalit 

community, using different laws, particularly the national security 

laws, to go after the Dalits and lock them up. 

30

At that point, Mr. Chairman, I would like to bring one issue to 

your attention. The U.S. Administration unfortunately closes its 

eyes when other countries say this is war on terror. And war on 

terror laws have been used against Dalits. That shows it is being 

abused by the Indian Government to marginalize and to punish a 

particular community which has already been abused and 

marginalized. So not only abusers go scot free, the people who have 

been abused have been charged under all these gruesome laws. 

The ineffectiveness of this impunity aspect is the root cause as 

far as Amnesty is concerned. If anything has to be changed, the 

laws and the police should take into action. That also forces other 

practices in India. 

In Gujarat, I am sure you are aware, Mr. Chairman, a couple of 

years ago, thousands of Muslims were killed because they were 

Muslims and women were burnt alive, raped, because they were 

Muslims. Very few, if any, were brought to justice. The impunity 

existed because they were Muslims at that stage. Impunity is existing because there are Dalits in other states and across India, that 

is the bottom line. Impunity should be part and parcel of the 

United States’ relationship with India, whenever they talk to them. 

Other than that, India can also make the next step because of a 

globalization that is happening now. Because these seeds, the job 

quota, 16.5 percent quota, is only for government services, because 

of globalization, private enterprises, including U.S. businesses, that 

does not extend there. 

So as a next step, India can pass legislation saying that the current quota for employment should also extend to private enterprises. That should be done and that can be done from the U.S. 

also in terms of appealing, and also, U.S. businesses on their own 

adapting that policy, rather than waiting for government to say. 

That would be a breakthrough if U.S. businesses can move forward. 

The other one is USAID-funded projects. Again, the language can 

be inserted that there should be nondiscrimination in any of these 

funds being disseminated as to the 16.5 percent quota should be 

looked at for any jobs that are being given under these USAIDfunded projects. 

Lastly is the World Bank projects. Recently, I heard $3 billion or 

$4 billion was given and, you know, the Chairman is Wolfowitz, 

you know, he was one of the main leaders of the U.S. Administration at one point. He can take the lead through U.S. Administration’s interference in initiating some focal condition to these $4 billion that was given to India, to make sure that at least 16.5 percent of the job quota is Dalits. 

Finally, in terms of the religious issue, one issue was not mentioned, so I thought it was my responsibility. Christians have been 

left out. Of course, Buddhists and Sikhs were left out, but they 

were brought in in 1990. But Muslims have been completely left 

out, so when the quotas have been brought in, it is important that 

Dalits who convert to Islam also share and get the same benefits 

like the other religious groups. 

Thank you, again, Chairman, for inviting us and also congratulating you and other Members of Congress who have taken the lead 

on this particular issue. Thanks. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Kumar follows:]

31

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MR. T. KUMAR, ADVOCACY DIRECTOR, ASIA AND PACIFIC, 

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Thank you Mr. Chairman, and distinguished members of this committee. Amnesty 

International is pleased to testify at this hearing. We are here today to discuss a 

great injustice, an injustice based on discrimination not on the sole basis of colour, 

or gender, but on the basis of descent. In India today, nearly 200 million people 

known as dalits, (also known as ‘‘untouchables,’’ or ‘‘scheduled castes,’’) are faced 

with socioeconomic discrimination, abuse, torture, and even death simply because of 

the family into which they were born. 

This arrangement has been called India’s ‘‘hidden apartheid’’, and rightfully so, 

for despite specific legal provisions against such discrimination in the Indian constitution and subsequent laws, intense persecution remains. The groundwork exists 

for India to institute lasting and substantive change. The Indian government should 

take meaningful steps to enforce existing legislation, and to explore other avenues 

of addressing this sad situation. The United States, as one of India’s trading partners and allies, must encourage India to take firm action. 

WHO ARE DALITS?

India’s caste system involves a social hierarchy and is often understood to be a 

feature of Hinduism. Individuals are considered to be born into a particular caste 

and remain in that caste throughout their lives. Broad caste categories (varnas) separate caste groups according to occupation (although mobility between occupations 

does not lead to changes in caste identity). Outside these caste categories are the 

‘‘untouchables’’, now commonly known as dalits whose occupations—sweepers, tanners, sanitation workers, etc—were viewed as ‘‘polluting’’ the community. 

Untouchability of dalits continues to be practiced in India in many forms, reinforcing an iniquitous social hierarchy and allowing for the continuing 

disempowerment and humiliation of millions of people. 

HOW ARE DALITS DISCRIMINATED AGAINST?

Localities housing dalits are often segregated from those housing non-dalits, a 

segregation which often extends to the provision of separate wells, eating places and 

temples and restrictions on the use of land to defecate. Many are agricultural laborers—estimates suggest that at least two thirds of the bonded laborers in India are 

dalits—while dalit women, and often children, dominate certain spheres of work, 

such as civic sanitation, scavenging and leatherwork (including the flaying and tanning of carcasses). 

In most parts of the country, dalits have a proportionately small share in agricultural landholding, despite the allocation of government land. Dalits also do not have 

proper access to schools which accounts for high illiteracy rates and serves as a 

basis for increased discrimination. Additionally, dalits are routinely subjected to 

beatings, mutilation, murder, rape, and destruction of property by members of the 

upper-castes and the police, a culture of impunity ensures that most of the perpetrators go unpunished. 

ABUSES COMMITTED AGAINST DALITS

Abuses against dalits are numerous and take many different forms, they include 

(but are not limited to):

• Socioeconomic discrimination

• Beatings, slashings, and other forms of torture

• Arson—the burning of dalit communities

• Violence against women 

— Rape, gang rape, and the parading of women through the streets naked 

• As a form of punishment 

• As the right of the upper-caste male 

• To punish or embarrass the woman’s family 

— Beating and torture of women

• Summary execution, many times by burning alive

• Bonded labor

• Denial of rights, especially land rights

• Police abuses against dalits, custodial abuse 

32

EFFORTS TO ADDRESS ABUSES AGAINST DALITS

Article 17 of the Constitution of India states that the practice of ‘‘untouchability’’ 

is abolished and forbidden. Despite this prohibition, ‘‘untouchability’’ continues to be 

practised in India in many forms. Additionally, lower caste groups are ensured reservations in political bodies as well as public sector employment. Various other protective mechanisms have been put in place by the state to ensure rights for dalits. 

Legislation to criminalize abuses against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes 

began with the 1955 Protection of Civil Rights Act. 

This Act was enhanced by the enactment of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled 

Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in 1989 and Rules of 1995 which extended the 

scope of abuses which were criminalized and provided for graver penalties. Within 

the latter Act there are penalties for police acting negligently. Other extant legislation includes protection of the land rights of scheduled castes as well as legislation 

outlawing traditional abusive practices including ‘‘manual scavenging’’ (the manual 

disposal of human waste by dalits). However, most of these measures are not enforced. 

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL’S CONCERNS

Amnesty International recognizes the huge challenge that the socio-economic situation in India presents for the state and the country as a whole. However with legislation designed to safeguard the rights of dalits in existence, and with constitutional 

guarantees for the abolition of ‘‘untouchability’’ and prohibition of discrimination on 

the basis of caste, Amnesty International believes the Government of India must respond to abuses against dalits with a powerful message—not just through rhetoric 

but in practice—that those who strive for equality will not be punished but that the 

state will find ways of supporting their initiatives. 

Amnesty International is especially concerned about the following: police action, 

denial of justice, impunity, torture, violence against women, persecution of human 

rights defenders, dalits under sentence of death, and violence against pro-dalit and 

dalit activists. 

POLICE: A SOLUTION OR A PROBLEM?

Amnesty International believes that the current policing structure encourages discrimination by allowing police to act at the behest of particular powerful groups 

rather than to act lawfully in the interests of society as a whole and by encouraging 

arrest on the basis of suspicion rather than on investigation and evidence. In practice also, the failure to prosecute many unlawful activities of the police and the 

problems of victims in accessing justice mean that discriminatory practices are perpetuated. 

The prevalence of political interference in policing by powerful individuals and 

groups, ensures that the most socially and economically weak members of society 

are most vulnerable to abuses including torture and ill-treatment by police at the 

behest of those groups. Victims have nowhere to turn but to the police to enforce 

laws designed to end discrimination. But the police are not equipped or willing to 

do so. It is an enduring problem which can no longer be overlooked. 

HURDLES TO DALITS SEEKING JUSTICE

In practice, there are numerous hurdles to dalits seeking justice. Section 21 of the 

Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act imposes positive 

duties on state and central governments to ensure proper implementation of the 

Act. These include the provision of legal aid and travel expenses for witnesses and 

victims attending trials. It states that many offences are ‘‘non-bailable’’ and do not 

allow for anticipatory bail, therefore protecting victims from possible reprisals. However, the reality has been very different. In many cases cognizance is not taken of 

abuses. When cases are reported they are often not filed under the Act as police 

are under pressure from the perpetrators who are aware of the graver penalties for 

offences under the Act. 

Furthermore, dalit activists are frequently charged under the National Security 

Act, the Indian Explosives Act and sections of the Indian Penal Code. There have 

also been several cases of police harassment of NGO activists, ranging from periodic 

police visits, to arrest and charges of aiding and abetting in various crimes or interfering in police investigations. These findings were borne out in discussions which 

Amnesty International held with human rights defenders during 1999. 

33

IMPUNITY: AN EXAMPLE

Gaje Singh, a 39-year-old tailor and member of the dalit community in Nayagaon, 

Ropar District, was allegedly assaulted by police on October 17, 2001. Several officers of the 37 Battalion of the national Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) attacked the village in reprisal after an officer was allegedly beaten up by Gaje Singh 

and his neighbors in a personal dispute over the money charged for some work. 

After meeting resistance, CRPF officers in uniform and armed with service weapons 

returned to the village at about 8pm, ransacked several shops and beat Gaje Singh 

with iron rods, rifle butts and sticks. A handicapped shopkeeper, Darshan Singh, 

and his 78-year-old mother, Satpal Kaur, were also beaten with iron rods. Gaje 

Singh suffered serious injuries to his head, chest and feet. Darshan Singhs right 

arm was broken and his mother suffered injuries to her back. Three officers of the 

regular police who were in the vicinity did not intervene during the attack, nor did 

any police officer help the injured. 

Gaje Singh filed a complaint at Nayagaon police station and the Punjab police 

registered a criminal case for minor offences against four CRPF officers. However, 

no arrests were made. To initiate criminal prosecution against officers of a central 

security force, permission from the Union government needs to be obtained, but 

Punjab Police did not take any steps to seek such permission. A senior CRPF officer 

assured a lawyers organization monitoring the case that disciplinary action would 

be taken against the officers and that they would be asked to pay the victims medical expenses. He also suspended three of the officers involved in the attack and acknowledged that it was a blatant case of ‘‘police highhandedness’’. Police officers 

subsequently tried to convince the victims to settle the matter out of court by offering them some money, but the offer was reportedly not accepted. No formal charges 

were brought against the officers concerned and the fate of the disciplinary action 

initiated by the CRPF is unknown. The victims are finding it difficult to obtain the 

money needed to take their complaint further to the Punjab Human Rights Commission and are under pressure from other villagers to drop legal proceedings. 

TORTURE AND VIOLENT ABUSE

Amnesty International is concerned that dalits are particularly vulnerable to torture and ill-treatment and that there is evidence of discrimination within the police 

system. Cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment sometimes amounting to torture is 

particularly common in this context. Physical and verbal abuse and intimidation of 

individuals by police on the basis of their caste, ethnicity, religion or gender is commonplace not only for detainees but also for those who visit the police station to 

make a complaint. 

Amnesty International is also aware of many incidents in which police have reportedly beaten members of the dalit community, including women, following requests by members of upper caste communities that they be punished. Dalit women 

are particularly vulnerable to sexual torture by law enforcement officials, often as 

a means of punishing male relatives or ‘‘teaching their community a lesson’’. The 

failure of police to register complaints of violence against dalits or adivasis (tribal 

groups) or to pursue investigations under legislation specially designed to protect 

members of these groups—the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention 

of Atrocities Act, 1989—has also been well documented. 

Torture and abuse against dalits by upper-caste members are also extremely common. For example, in May 1999 it was reported that a young widow named Chunni 

was tied to a tree and brutally beaten on the orders of the panchayat (local village 

council, which included seven women) for failing to prevent the deaths of livestock 

in Amara village of Banda district in Uttar Pradesh. She was reportedly hung upside down, her genitals stuffed with chili powder and thrashed with lathis (batons). 

She died of her injuries. Villagers told police she had committed suicide. All 13 

panchayat members were arrested and charged with murder. 

In another incident, an elderly dalit man recalled how his wife, daughter and two 

sons were burned alive, along with three others, when members of a dominant 

Hindu upper caste set fire to three huts belonging to dalit families. His eldest son, 

the first graduate from the village, also had been murdered two years earlier by 

caste Hindus. All the dalits in the village had fled and none wanted to return home 

as they believed the police would not protect them. Examples of this nature abound, 

it is estimated that a dalit woman is raped every sixty hours and a dalit is murdered every nine days. 

34

VIOLENCE AGAINST DALIT WOMEN: A DOUBLE DISCRIMINATION

Amnesty International saw evidence of the intersection of gender inequality and 

other forms of discrimination throughout its visit to areas of Uttar Pradesh and 

Rajasthan. The concept of gender equality continues to be alien to many communities and many state institutions particularly at the local level. In the areas of 

Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan visited, caste and land rights are crucial factors which 

impact on political, social and economic relationships. 

In Uttar Pradesh political parties representing dalit and lower-caste communities 

have played a role in recent years in empowering some of these groups in certain 

areas. While it is difficult to generalize about a situation in which caste groups and 

relationships between them are extremely complex, groups such as dalits, adivasis

‘‘backward castes’’ and others continue to be most socially and economically vulnerable as a result of lack of access to land ownership and meaningful political participation. 

Estimates suggest that at least two thirds of the bonded laborers in India are 

dalits and that over half the dalit workforce are landless agricultural laborers. 

Sixty-six per cent of all women agricultural laborers are dalits earning between Rs.8–25 [$0.17–0.54] per day. 

Placed within the context of both gender and caste discrimination, more often 

than not inhabiting rural areas of severe impoverishment, dalit women become an 

easy target for exploitation and violence. Given that women embody the concept of 

honor, violence against women becomes a symbolic gesture of exploitation and discrimination within dalit communities. Thus, sexual harassment by landowners, 

moneylenders and their hired thugs is common. 

Rape, gang rape, parading of women through the streets naked, and beatings are 

common actions taken against women and girls by both the police and members of 

the upper-castes. Reasons for these practices vary from using violent means of punishment, to viewing sexual relations with dalit women as their caste right, to using 

sexual torture as a means of embarrassing and punishing the woman’s family. 

VIOLENCE AGAINST DALIT WOMEN: A CASE STUDY

Violence against women is also connected to many different issues of caste relations such as land rights. The story of Ram Chandra and his wife, Ramvathi, perfectly illustrates this fact. Ram Chandra, a dalit living in Munni Khera was married 

to Ramvathi and they owned a piece of land on which they had a house. Upper caste 

villagers were trying to take the land from them and Ram Chandra and Ramvathi 

had objected to this. 

In September 1998, Ramvathi was gang-raped by five men. Higher caste villagers 

are believed to have raped her as a means of isolating her and her husband within 

the village and the dalit community because of the stigma attached to rape and to 

punish them for refusing to give up their land. 

After the rape, Ram Chandra went to the Hassanganj police station to lodge a 

complaint. However, police refused to lodge a First Information Report (FIR). There 

are allegations that police took money from one of the accused. The couple were constantly threatened by influential people in the village and their house was attacked. 

Ram Chandra finally made an application to the Superintendent of Police of Unnao 

district concerning the rape and the failure of the police to lodge an FIR. However, 

despite the Superintendent of Police ordering that the incident should be investigated (no action was taken against police for refusing to lodge an FIR) local police 

again managed to ensure that the incident was not investigated. Finally under severe pressure, the couple moved to Ramvathi’s parent’s village some distance away. 

They returned to the village on January 30, 1999, reportedly determined to reclaim their property. They were met by three men, who were soon joined by others, 

armed with sticks and axes. Ram Chandra sent his wife to the house, fearing violence. He was then beaten by around 17 men with sticks. His left leg and left hand 

were broken. When he started screaming, Ramvathi and several other women came 

to find out what was happening. Ram Chandra described what happened next: 

‘‘They attacked my wife with stick, she fell down then and there. After that my wife 

came to me and laid over my body to save me, then they had beaten my wife with 

sticks and axes. She got deep injuries on the head and shoulder and her right hand 

and leg broken. [one of the attackers] put off all the clothes of my wife, raped her 

and inserted and pushed the stick in her private part’’. 

The attackers left Ramvathi for dead and ran away. Ram Chandra and his wife 

were taken to the district hospital where Ramvathi died the next morning. 

When, on the next day, activists approached the Superintendent of Police about 

the incident, which had been reported in the media, he reportedly denied that the 

incident had occurred and said that the media had exaggerated the facts. Activists 

35

went to the village to investigate but villagers were too scared to speak about it. 

They found Ramvathi’s husband in the district hospital. He could only move his 

neck because he had been beaten so badly. He had not even been told that his wife 

had died. 

Finally, many women don’t approach police for fear of dishonor or that they will 

be dismissed or further abused. An activist working with dalit women in Uttar 

Pradesh estimated that only 5% of cases of violence against women are registered. 

Many dalits are not aware of their rights under special legislation designed to protect them, and it is rare for police to voluntarily inform them. 

PERSECUTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS

Human rights defenders from outside areas where caste-based abuses have occurred who attempt to highlight those abuses and put pressure on the authorities 

to take remedial action are sometimes themselves made the subject of harassment 

by the state. This has reportedly included banishment from particular areas under 

Section 10 of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) 

Act, 1989 which provides for ‘‘removal of person likely to commit offence’’. 

Amnesty International is concerned at apparent attempts by the state to limit the 

work of human rights defenders in internationalizing the issue of discrimination 

against dalits. The Government of India has explicitly stated that the issue of caste 

discrimination does not fall within the remit of the International Convention on the 

Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination which India ratified in 1968. At 

the hearing of India’s report to the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of 

Racial Discrimination in September 1996, the Committee explicitly affirmed that 

‘‘the situation of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes falls within the scope of 

the Convention’’ and expressed great concern that India had failed to reconsider its 

position on this (CERD/C/304/Add.13). 

DALITS AND THE DEATH PENALTY: AN EXAMPLE

Four dalit men were sentenced to death in 2002 in Bihar state. Their appeal was 

rejected in December that year, despite concerns that they had not received a fair 

trial. They were convicted in February 1992 for the killing of 35 members of an 

upper-caste armed group in Bihar state. They were convicted of a ‘‘terrorist act’’ 

under the now lapsed 1987 Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act 

(TADA Act), which gave police sweeping powers to arrest and detain without trial 

under the Act’s vague and imprecise provisions. It was used to arrest, among others, 

members of vulnerable groups. Amnesty International is concerned that the men’s 

trial fell short of international fair trial standards. 

DALIT COMMUNITY AWARENESS AND ACTIVISM

One positive development has been the increased social awareness and activism 

among dalit communities. A growing awareness of rights amongst these communities, demands for social and political equality and an unwillingness not only to 

allow such abusive practices to continue but to be a silent witness to the apathy 

of the administration, has led many dalits and others to take active steps to defend 

those rights. 

However, the growing assertion of dalit human rights which necessarily challenges existing power groups, be it landlords, employers or even so-called ‘‘backward 

castes’’, has met with violent reaction in some quarters. In 1998, the Times of India

reported that the annual report of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes 

and Scheduled Tribes which was presented to the President had referred to frequent 

caste clashes erupting in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Tamil Nadu, stating ‘‘Whenever 

the Dalits have tried to organise themselves or assert their rights, there has been 

a backlash from the feudal lords resulting in mass killings of the Dalits, gang rapes, 

looting and arson’’ Times of India, (Times of India, February 10, 1998). 

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, it is the responsibility of the Indian government to fully enact and 

apply its legal provisions against discrimination on the basis of caste and descent. 

It must take concrete action to reign in groups who discriminate against dalits, including the police. The culture of impunity must end, and the perpetrators must be 

brought to justice. Until India’s ‘‘hidden apartheid’’ is truly and completely abolished, the world’s largest democracy cannot hope to make truly substantive progress 

towards liberty for all. 

36

RECOMMENDATIONS

Amnesty International calls on the United States government to:

1. Encourage India to adopt the recommendations outlined above and use every 

opportunity to raise the problem of caste discrimination and violence both 

publicly—at international meetings, congressional hearings, and in press 

conferences—and privately, at Consultative Group meetings and in meetings 

with relevant officials.

2. Encourage American owned business in India to establish a quota system, 

similar to the Indian government’s, which ensures the setting aside of jobs 

for qualified dalits, especially women.

3. U.S. government funded projects in India should also establish quotas to encourage the hiring dalit workers.

The U.S. government should instruct its officials at the World Bank and other 

similar institutions to ensure that funds allocated to projects in India are non-discriminatory and include a quota for dalits. 

Amnesty International calls on the government of India to:

1. Take steps through public education and other means to ensure societal and 

attitudinal changes amongst the population towards the human rights of 

dalits. These should include incorporating changes in school curricula to create attitudes which would help combat violence against dalits and to guard 

against reinforcing caste stereotypes, and training teachers to ensure nondiscriminatory approaches to education.

2. Adopt all appropriate measures, especially in the field of education, so as to 

instill values which will prevent caste-based violence and discrimination. 

These should include ensuring that schools provide a safe environment void 

of caste-based violence.

3. Place the elimination of caste-based violence on the agenda of Panchayats

and other organs of government down to the lowest levels throughout the 

country. Ensure that knowledge of legal rights and various laws related to 

scheduled castes and scheduled tribes feature in any training program for 

newly elected Panchayat members as well as Sarpanches, Upsarpanches, 

Gram Sevaks and others and involve non-governmental organizations in such 

training.

4. Invite the Special Rapporteur on Torture to investigate patterns of violence 

against dalits.

5. Ensure implementation of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and Rules of 1995 and take action against 

officials who have failed to implement the Act and its Rules.

6. Implement existing legal sanctions against police officers found responsible 

for illegal actions based on discrimination and initiate disciplinary action 

against police officers found to have acted in a discriminatory manner towards individuals.

7. All police stations should hold and display in regional languages copies of 

relevant legislation enacted to protect certain vulnerable groups from violence and abuse.

8. Incidents of torture and other human rights violations should be carefully 

monitored with a view to determining correlation of their occurrence with 

victims belonging to certain categories in society. Statistics should be published and steps taken to provide special protection on the basis of this information. Monitoring mechanisms should involve the statutory commissions 

established to protect particular groups in society as well as non-governmental bodies and individuals who come from or represent these groups in 

society.

Thank you for inviting Amnesty International to this important hearing.

Mr. SMITH. Mr. Kumar, thank you. Like many colleagues of 

mine, we deeply appreciate the work that Amnesty does, not just 

in India but throughout the world. So, I am very grateful for your 

work personally and for the organization. 

Let me ask a couple of questions and Dr. Raj, Mr. Kumar and 

Profession Ilaiah, you might want to touch on this. You ended, Mr. 

37

Kumar, with the need for the IMF and the World Bank to include 

some kind of linkage to hiring those who have been left out traditionally. It seems to me that that has not happened is an egregious 

oversight, and this Committee will endeavor to find out why and 

see if there is something that can be done there. 

Let me just ask you if there is, when it comes to United States 

corporations in India, anything akin to the McBride principles that 

had application in Northern Ireland with the Catholics who were 

left out, or the Sullivan principles in South Africa that had application with Black Africans being left out in South Africa? Is there 

anything like that for Dalits that you know of with any U.S. corporation? Are there any U.S. corporations that are taking a lead to 

try to employ and franchise those who have been left out? 

Mr. ILAIAH. After the caste and Dalit question became slightly 

globalized, Ford Foundation has taken a small initiative of giving 

about 400 scholarships to Dalits and tribals. But for that, the huge 

corporate money that is coming into India, industries, for example, 

locomotive industry, computer outsourcing, nowhere Dalits and the 

lower-castes get any share in the economy. 

Mr. SMITH. And you would all agree with that? 

Mr. D’SOUZA. We are not aware of any of this principle being applied. Our sense is that it has not happened and that it needs to 

be encouraged. 

Mr. KUMAR. Yes, Mr. Chairman, as I mentioned earlier, it should 

be addressed from two fronts. One is India itself should pass laws 

to extend the system to private enterprise. That is the best way, 

because not only addressing the United States corporations, but 

any businesses and local private businesses. You know, Indians 

owning businesses will have a legal obligation to hire the Dalits 

into their work force. And the U.S. can take a lead. If one corporation or two corporations can take a lead, symbolically, saying that 

here we are aware and here the government itself has a quota. So 

we would like to reach out and train, if they are not, you know, 

because of the historical injustice or whatever, if they are not up 

to the computers or whatever, they should also initiate some form 

of training and bring them in, because that is the best method 

United States corporations and the United States Government can 

give to Indians. In general, not only to the Dalit population that 

you care about the country, you care about the population. Thanks. 

Mr. RAJ. Mr. Chairman, what you would be surprised to know 

that in government documents, the list of journalists. Last year, 

government offered the list of journalists, about 800 journalists, out 

of which there was not a single Dalit journalist. 

Similarly, the situation in the film industry. Not a single industrialist is there from the Dalit community. In the financial sector, 

share market, nowhere, except where there is reservation. Amazing. 

So what I would request of you that in Indo/U.S. relation, if 

these things are kept in the background when negotiated. Whatever United States interests there are in India, of course, relationship between these two, it will work perfectly in harmony and 

there will not be a disturbance at whatever country, some continents, are facing a lot of disturbances. 

38

Mr. SMITH. Thank you. Ms. Athwale, if I could ask if you or anyone else would want to comment on the trafficking issue? As I indicated earlier, I am one of those who believe that India should have 

been placed on Tier 3, especially given the fact that so many girls 

are trafficked inside the borders of the country. To me, it is almost 

like the difference between a refugee and an IDP. Internally displaced persons often have just as hard a time as someone who is 

a refugee who goes across a border. 

If a young girl or a Dalit is trafficked or sold into slavery, it does 

not matter one whit if she goes across a border or is grievously offended and humiliated and hurt, it is occurring within the borders 

of India. As a matter of fact, the Trafficking in Persons Report

points out that internal trafficking is widespread in India. We have 

had hearings in the past where we have heard from Indian women 

who have testified about the brutality and the absolutely inhumane 

treatment they have suffered. We even had a hearing of the International Rescue Committee, and had a video of young girls who 

were coming out of a cellar where they had been held awaiting 

their exploitation. It was a very disturbing video piece. 

But my question is a couple-fold. According to the National 

Human Rights Commission Report, traffickers usually target minors and Dalit women. In one study of 173 women who were victims of the sex trade, 85 percent were minors and half were Dalits. 

My question is, has the government responded to the trafficking of 

Dalits? Oxfam has found that the sexual slavery of Dalit girls and 

women continues to receive religious sanction, and that is baffling 

to me and maybe you can shed some light on that. 

It is strange, indeed, that Dalits are—it is a paradox—are 

shunned, and yet when it comes to abusing and raping them, and 

when they are wanted only for their utility rather than their innate 

goodness and worth, they are indeed subjected to this kind of exploitation. 

If I could also ask you, if you would comment on this, the whole 

issue of missing girls. You know, last year the People’s Republic of 

China, where there may be as many as 100 million missing girls 

because of their one-child-per-couple policy, forced abortion, and 

sex-selection abortions, especially infanticide. Unfortunately, India 

is also there in large numbers of girls who are missing. Missing because they have been killed either by dismemberment or chemical 

poisoning as a result of an abortion. 

My question is, what is the government doing to stop that outrage, where the most pernicious form of discrimination, it seems to 

me, the most outrageous, is when a young girl is targeted in her 

most vulnerable stage, simply because she is a girl, and then killed 

by abortion. The net result is that we have all of these missing 

girls and it is a blight, I think, on the nation of India that this is 

occurring. If you could speak to the missing girls issue, as well. 

Ms. ATHWALE. Thank you for showing such a keen interest, Mr. 

Chairman. Judicially our government is really practicing castism 

there. So if a women is elected to a poor-caste, then she can hope 

to get justice done. But as the Dalit women are forced to trafficking 

or Dalit women are raped, the person, rapist, is not punished at 

all. So it all depends upon the power, money and upper-caste connections. 

39

Mr. SMITH. Would any other witnesses like to speak to that 

issue? 

Mr. RAJ. I think that she has talked about this already. In 2000 

there is a committee on the welfare of the Shudra tribe that is, 

Shudra tribe is a name for Dalits in the Constitution. The group 

of castes, they are considered castes of a type. Thirty one members 

of Parliament in India, they laid down their report in 2000, in 

which they held that the Supreme Court was, practicing untouchability and then the Supreme Court was, and that report it is still 

there. 

When our matters have been tried in the courts, their, of course, 

mindset is working, so justice has not been delivered to us there 

also. Even judicially also is partially in our case. 

Mr. SMITH. Yes? 

Mr. D’SOUZA. Commenting on Ms. Athwale’s statement just now, 

the girl trafficking and infanticide of the female child has now become a monumental social problem. Because you have Indian 

States where there are just not enough women for the men and it 

is leading to further abuse, rape and is creating social chaos. State 

after state now has a percentage where the women have declined. 

And there is no mechanism as of now, no governmental action on 

how we should deal with this monumental problem. 

So people are watching the male/female ratio and the millions of 

female babies that are bought or are killed and are not brought 

into the world, mainly because of their condition. This problem is 

not only a Dalit problem, but is a problem that affects all of the 

castes because of the view the caste system itself holds of all 

women. This is a serious problem that is affecting, and many of the 

persons that are concerned about our society are very concerned 

about this development in India. 

Mr. RAJ. Mr. Chairman, I give an example 3 years before, when 

five Dalits were taking leather to sell in the market. Rumors had 

spread that they had killed a cow and they were attacked and five 

Dalits were killed for the cow carcass. That happened in Haryana, 

and last month, there is a district, namely Sonipat in Haryana and 

the place is Gohana. I have that right here. I would like to give 

you and if you have time, please read. About 50 houses of Dalits 

were burned and 2,000 Dalits fled and that was quite near to 

Delhi; 70 kilometers just away from Delhi. So the Gohana incident 

essentially got the attention of the world about how they have been 

victimized. Haryana has become now the place where most of the 

Dalit atrocities are taking place. 

Mr. ILAIAH. Mr. Chairman, I just wanted to say one thing about 

the trafficking. The question of women profiting as doubly improper. One is there is a spiritual sanction. We have a huge temple 

prostitution, which is not normally taken into the definition of 

women profiting. And there is this poverty ridden women being 

forced into prostitution in urban areas, slums, and selling the body. 

Third, a huge number of women and girls selling and killing. 

Now the government as of now, they do not have anything concrete in the shape to check this Buddha temple prostitution and 

the regular trafficking. 

Secondly, Mr. Chairman, the problem is so huge. In my view, unless an agency like the United Nations or the United States works 

40

out and really means to send certain financial resources to rehabilitate huge numbers of children sold and prostitutes employed into 

destitute conditions. I will give you one example. 

Recently, the government banned dancing by the prostitutes in 

bars in a huge city called Bombay. And as a result, hundreds of 

thousands of women now are jobless and foodless, starving on the 

pyramids. So the government has nothing concrete out there to 

really give them shelter, alternative, and requires global attention. 

Mr. SMITH. Just let me conclude my questions by first of all saying thank you for your incredible candor. I mean, monumental social problems, when you talk about this gender inequality in terms 

of numbers, not just in discrimination, but in numbers, I do believe 

that sex-selection abortion is a crime against females and a crime 

against women. And regrettably, it is being used with impunity in 

India. 

The temple prostitute issue is not really appreciated, I do not 

think, in America, in terms of numbers, scope and the mistreatment of these young women. Let me just ask Dr. D’Souza, if I 

could, when it comes to the harassment of Dalits and tribal peoples 

who convert to Christianity: Has that diminished, has the government stepped up to try to protect those who are discriminated 

against? The issue of anticonversion laws, where is that, and finally, just let me ask the question. You know, the Human Rights 

Commission, which has come under a lot of criticism at the UN—

the annual meeting that occurs in Geneva—because of what it 

leaves out and because many of those who sit in judgement of other 

nations are gross offenders of human rights themselves, is in the 

process of being reformed. The Human Rights Council, which we 

hope will emerge, will hopefully become a real genuine effort at 

bringing light and scrutiny to human rights abuses wherever they 

occur. 

And it seems to me and I have followed this, I think, very closely, 

I do not recall India getting the kind of scrutiny for its caste system and the Dalits for the discrimination that they suffer at the 

Human Rights Commission in the past. And I think that needs to 

be an agenda item of the highest order. You know, countries like 

Israel get their own category of scrutiny. Sudan gets some scrutiny, 

and some of the other nations, Zimbabwe, China, from time to 

time. But India, to the best of my knowledge, especially as it relates to the caste system and the Dalits, has not. So, I think that 

is an area we need to put some very serious effort and push to end 

this systematized discrimination that leads to terrible, horrific consequences. But if you could speak to that, if you would? 

Mr. D’SOUZA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think we all agree 

here that the freedom of conscience is the most basic of all freedoms and it is a freedom on which all other freedoms impinge. 

And in India, in recent years, especially when the extreme Indo 

elements came to power, they went after freedom of religion and 

freedom of conscience with a vengeance, knowing that if they can 

attack freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, then their 

agenda of maintaining caste monopoly will go on forever. 

Mr. SMITH. Dr. D’Souza, if you could just suspend for one brief 

moment; there is a Wisenthal bill that I have to manage on the 

41

Floor. I will go and come right back, but Tom Tancredo will take 

the Chair and our next speaker will be Ms. Lee. 

Mr. D’SOUZA. Thank you. 

Mr. SMITH. I will look forward to reading your comments as soon 

as I return. 

Mr. D’SOUZA. Thank you, Congressman. 

Mr. TANCREDO [presiding]. Mr. D’Souza, it is a pleasure, as always, to see you and please proceed. 

Mr. D’SOUZA. I was saying that the freedom of conscience is a 

fundamental freedom given to all human beings and also on the 

United Nations Charter of Human Rights and the attack, the deliberate attack on freedom of conscience and freedom of religion was 

inspired and instigated and driven by those who subscribe to the 

castist order in India, especially the right wing Hindu movement 

and the sanitary war. The state, ever since the new government 

has come, we do not fear major upheaval at the center. But at the 

local level, Mr. Chairman, the attack on freedom of religion continues. Violence against Christians is not on the decrease, it is on 

the increase. And violence in states like Rajastan has reached serious proportions. Right now, the Government of Rajastan which is, 

again, another BJP local government, is drafting and crafting another anticonversion bill. And targeted in this bill, just like the 

Ghorjarab anticonversion bill are the Dalits and the tribals. We 

have been saying for nearly 30, 35 years, that the anticonversion 

bills and the movement of anticonversion attack on the freedom of 

religion has nothing to do with Christians, but it has to do with 

the Dalits, the tribals and the oppressed. 

The government was the first government to come out into the 

open and mention Dalits and tribals and what happens when a 

Dalit decides to choose another faith. The Rajastan Government, 

ministers in the government, have gone on the record saying they 

will model their freedom of religion based on the Ghorjarab bill. 

What does that mean? That if a Dalit decides to say, ‘‘I change my 

religion,’’ his conversion experience, which is a matter of individual, 

personal hard conscience decision, will have to be authenticated by 

a government magistrate. And those who are engaged in this will 

be fined a huge amount of money. The Dalit will be fined a huge 

amount of money and there is a huge concern and we want this 

Committee to take note of that and do whatever is possible to see 

that this strategy of doing laws at the state level but ignoring the 

state at the center and the central government, because that gets 

international attention, is taking cognizance off. Thank you. 

Mr. TANCREDO. Thank you, Mr. D’Souza. Ms. Lee? 

Ms. LEE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let me just first thank the 

panel, all of you, for your very powerful testimony. As I am sitting 

here listening, of course, as an African American, many of the 

issues and the difficulties and the atrocities that are taking place 

as relates to the Dalits, I can very clearly relate to, given our history here of slavery and segregation. 

And I want to ask you, given the fact that the Constitution, your 

Constitution actually does or did abolish the practice of untouchability, following that, I guess, your laws do implement certain affirmative action policies. How has that worked? It sounds like it 

probably has not worked effectively. And going to what Mr. Kumar 

42

indicated with regard to what we can do as the United States, and 

I want to ask, also, what the international community can do, in 

addition? For instance, writing in set asides where 16.5 percent of 

the jobs and of any development projects going to Dalits. Well, I am 

sure you have watched the debate in this country, how when you 

begin to set aside or develop quotas, the debate becomes you are 

discriminating against all those others who are not part of the 16.5 

percent. 

So I am going to work with the Chairman to see how we can 

really look at how we can, as the United States Government, begin 

to insist at least with U.S. money, that we can put some of these 

revisions in. But just know, again, witnessing how this works in 

America, that debate sometimes can get off track, because there 

are those that believe when you do set aside funds for historically 

discriminated-against groups of people, that you are discriminating 

against others. 

So I want to ask you, in India so far, has that phenomenon developed? Or how have your affirmative action programs evolved since 

1950 or since their development? And finally, what more can the 

international community do? 

Mr. RAJ. Several castes of Dalits, their population consists about 

321⁄2. That is the quota that has been earmarked for services for 

government. That is one part. 

Coming to our Indian Constitution that abolishes untouchability. 

Untouchability, now we are talking about abolishing caste system. 

Ghandi talked about abolition of untouchability, but he stood for 

caste system. If caste system exists, untouchability is bound to be 

there. That is how things did not change as our forefathers were 

charged. 

Now I step ahead. I think if we work out a system that abolishes 

the caste system, as long as the caste system exists, preserve the 

caste system, that is about abolishment of untouchability, which 

Ghandi said, there is a big divide between Chairman of the Constitution, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, and Ghandi. Dr. Ambedkar stood for 

abolishing of the caste system. Ghandi just said no. Caste system 

should stay, but untouchability should not stay and that is 

unaddressed; now time has come. That is why we are here, we are 

globalizing our issue. 

The caste system itself should be abolished. There are no chances 

that discriminations are going to be finished. 

Mr. ILAIAH. But the point is, so far as the quota system is concerned, say from 1947, the untouchables and tribals were granted 

22.5 percent, together. But from 1947 to 1970s, they did not fill 

jobs with these people and they could not give seats in the educational institutions to these people, because there were no educated among them at all. 

So they said since qualified people are not available for both educational seats in the universities and also for jobs in the government sector, the quotas were taken from us and they were taken 

by upper-class. From 1970s to 1990s, 1991, actually, to put it bluntly, there were available candidates, but there was no affirmative 

position for any selection member. So the selection committees 

were constructed by the upper-class and the judicial committees 

were constituted by upper-castes. The recruiting committees were 

43

constituted by upper-castes and eventually they would disqualify 

them in interviews and keep posts vacant. 

Now from 1991 onwards, ever since India was open for liberalization and globalization, the qualified candidates are available. But 

in the higher positions, the higher bureaucratic positions, the statistics released last year were the scheduled castes and scheduled 

tribes together, Dalits, who should have been 22.5 percent, they 

were 6.5 percent in the jobs. So they would say that equally qualified capable people are not available, but they are out there in the 

market. And if you look at the standards of upper-castes, their 

standards are not at all greater than those who are standing outside the job within these communities. 

And from 1991 onwards, they started privatizing everything in 

the name of liberalization. And thereby they say that now private 

companies cannot give you a job. So here in America, the affirmative action for African Americans, some have gone into private sector, too, and the Indian Government today is asking the industry 

to accept the same amount of quota in the private sector, too, but 

industry is resisting. And that is where we want the American industry, at least, to step in, as Mr. Kumar also rightly said, and 

open yourself in some form. And include us in the economy. Otherwise we will be outside the global economy and we will be depressed and distressed and poverty ridden and violence may erupt 

in any form. 

Ms. LEE. Thank you very much for your response. Just in closing, 

I think, you know, aside from legislative strategies coming out of 

this, just from an international perspective, it might be an interesting dialogue to get together with the African American community and talk about some of the ongoing struggles and where we 

are. Of course, our work is not finished yet, but I am hearing very 

similar kinds of concerns and issues and I will talk to my staff and 

see if anyone on the Committee would like to participate maybe in 

a roundtable discussion about this. Thank you very much. 

Mr. ILAIAH. Thank you very much. 

Mr. TANCREDO. Thank you, Ms. Lee. A question to anyone who 

would wish to answer. I cannot imagine any more appropriate use 

of Millennium Challenge Account funds than those that would be 

directed toward improving the economic situation inside the Dalit 

community. To what extent have you given that any thought? Do 

you have any idea whether or not application has been made specifically to the Millennium Challenge Account for improvement of 

Dalit economic opportunities? 

Mr. KUMAR. Yes, India, to my knowledge, is not qualified. That 

is my understanding. I may be wrong, because they are economically higher up. 

Mr. TANCREDO. I see. 

Mr. KUMAR. So, I do not know the fine points if you can find a 

way, even though India may not be qualified, if there may be a way 

you can use these funds to reach out to the societies, then that 

would be the best way. 

Mr. TANCREDO. Well, I think that is something this Committee 

should look into. Perhaps some change to the legislation that would 

allow for that. Because, as I say, I cannot imagine a better use of 

44

the funds and directed toward exactly what we want to try to accomplish here. 

What is the regionalization of the issue? Are there places in 

India where it is either more severe because of economic religious 

conditions, or is this a problem that is not regionalized, accept for 

the extent to which most Dalits are in a particular area? Is it a 

national or regional problem, I guess I am trying to decide. 

Mr. D’SOUZA. It is a national problem, Mr. Chairman, and just 

a small example and I would ask Professor Kancha to answer from 

here. One of the so-called more developed, educated regions of 

India is the State of Talamnadu. A lot of the high tech people are 

there, et cetera. And recently, a couple of months ago, a phenomenal book has been released, called Dalits in Dravidian India, and it points out and documents the extent to which this is going 

on even in the State of Talamnadu. Unfortunately, it is not regional, it is national. 

Mr. ILAIAH. Yes, Mr. Chairman, there is a slight regional differentiation in the position of Dalits, tribals of different situations 

in different states. But by and large, it is an all-Indian phenomenon, because the Dalitan tribals, particularly untouchables, 

are spread over all the states and all the villages. 

Mr. TANCREDO. I see. 

Mr. ILAIAH. So there is no state or town where there are more 

focus, more densely populated. In the south, there is somewhat better educational situation of the Dalits and tribals, because the reform movement was slightly stronger. And English education is 

likely slightly more. That is a reason why you can see more and 

more computer engineers coming, even some Dalits computer engineering come from the south. 

And also there is a little more Christian increased population in 

south among Dalits. More of them have taken to Christianity and 

then they go to English schools more than whatever kind that 

exist. But the average poverty levels are of the Dalits and the 

lower-castes have been increasing and they are what we call below 

the poverty line, those who live below poverty. From 1991, the year 

in which the census was taken, 2001 the census was taken. The 

poverty level has doubled up and the hunger and the suicide rate 

for one has increased several-fold. I think India seems to be a country with the largest suicide rates of hunger and poverty. 

So this is because of the globalized economy, which kept the 

lower-caste Dalits and tribals completely out. And the markets, 

new markets that are spreading across are spreading in the upper 

areas and the upper-castes easily reaching to that and there is 

multiple incomes of the upper-castes with the dollar money, with 

the Federal money and local landlord money and also capital that 

they have. 

Even the temple economy is in their hands. So that is the problem. 

Mr. TANCREDO. Well, along those lines, let me delve, if I could, 

just a little deeper into the issue of the economic pressures that we 

could bring to bear. There has been, I think more than one of you 

have indicated the problems that are attendant to large corporations investing in the area, but doing so without, in this case, a social conscience as to its effect on the Dalit and tribal people. I look 

45

at what has happened here in other areas and what seems to be, 

well, what seems to have some sort of impact on the eventual decisions that these corporations make and I wonder whether or not 

it couldn’t be used to our advantage here. 

Several states have either dealt with or are anticipating dealing 

with divestiture of their state funds, of the monies that are put into 

employee retirement funds. And divesting from certain companies 

that are doing business in Sudan, that is the one that comes to 

mind because, of course, that is the one of which I am most familiar. 

How could we construct a similar agenda item, let us say? On 

what basis would we advance it? What would we say to state legislatures in getting them to do the same thing, to somehow affect 

using their investment dollars to affect some change on the part of 

the corporate structure that invests, in turn invests in India? What 

would you say? How would you construct that? 

Mr. ILAIAH. Mr. Chairman, you know, I was just reading a famous book written by two former chairmen of Harvard and some 

other university in relation to African Americans. It is called The 

Shape of the River, which statistics and data established that with 

the increased number of African Americans in the democratic economy and in the market economy, the communities and the democratic structure as standing. 

Now if we apply the same principle to Indian situation and if the 

American companies, European companies, work out a methodology 

to make us inclusive, how they do it, whether they give us a quota 

or whether they will allocate a certain amount of their profit for 

training. For example, we have thousands of young Dalit engineers 

and they are down south, but they cannot move anywhere and get 

jobs, the engineering education itself. So if they are recruited and 

trained in different modes with the priority basis, whatever could 

be the name, perhaps that will really strengthen Indian democracy 

and stabilization, too. 

So it has to be worked on. And certainly, as Mr. Kumar rightly 

said, the World Bank IMF finances and the USAID finances, our 

share should be fixed, our share should be determined. Some sort 

of mechanism should be worked out. 

Mr. TANCREDO. Well, I just think that the amount of money we 

are talking about, we recognize the huge flow of dollars into the 

country, huge investments being made. It seems to me that that is 

where the greatest amount of pressure could be applied, if we could 

actually get corporations to act in that way. But, yes, Mr. D’Souza? 

Mr. D’SOUZA. Yes, Mr. Chairman, I think linking it with sustaining the democratic foundations of India and growing the democratic structures of India is very, very important to dealing with 

the caste problem. 

We have already referred to the secularity issue and how this 

discontent among the Dalit tribal, et cetera, is giving rise to violent 

movements which are destabilizing states. I live in the State of Andhra Pradesh, but there is a region in my state called Telangama, 

where there is a parallel, violent left wing organization and government running which hates anything to do with economic liberalization and all, because they think foreign investment is against 

them. And so there is a powerful argument in attaching investment 

46

to be spread out to include the Dalits, to empower, in terms of 

when corporations go to India to be sensitive. If they are not sensitive, they, in their zeal to make money, may forget that the foundation, the democratic foundations in India have to be sustained 

for economic security to continue. Thank you. 

Mr. RAJ. Supplementing to this, I just say that legislature to 

make equality we are struggling hard for 4 years. Last year when 

it went to the center and was formed and it is a common program. 

It has promised to make legislation whereby they can include Dalit 

and tribal sector. But what happens is our industries are opposing 

it. Unfortunately, we do not have capitalism. Capitalism has not 

come on us. 

On one hand, there are capitalists. They are all big business, but 

on the other hand, they are caste members. So in other countries 

where they make their business, they just make the profit. But 

other hangers on like myself, they do not carry. But in our country, 

the businessmen over there, they have the caste biasments. So they 

are opposing the upward flight to the government. To some extent, 

government is willing to. If you look into it carefully, they open the 

gates for Dalits there and in India, probably, of course, because of 

your intervention. The U.S. Government can take up. So maybe industries will be pressurized to go far. 

Mr. TANCREDO. But let us say that we did this, let us say we 

could bring enough pressure on American corporations, well, and 

these international corporations, really, not just American. But to 

actually do some sort of affirmative action program in India, what 

would they come up against in terms of government opposition to 

this? 

Mr. RAJ. We are not asking anything that they are not doing 

here in America. 

Mr. TANCREDO. No, I know, but I mean, what is India——

Mr. ILAIAH. Mr. Chairman——

Mr. RAJ. Indirectly, they will work on the pressure in industries. 

What is happening in industries, American industries, they work 

in culture, technology, production, efficiency, quality, everything. 

And when it comes to giving, bearing a social responsibility, then 

American industries remain no longer a role model for them. 

So what Indian industries are doing is that when it is coming to 

them, when they are asked to give up something, then the American model is not for them, only for making a profit, the American 

model is fit for them. 

Mr. TANCREDO. All right, thank you. 

Mr. ILAIAH. Now, Mr. Chairman, if I understood you properly, 

how does Indian Government respond to that? 

Mr. TANCREDO. Yes, how would the Indian Government respond 

to our attempts? 

Mr. ILAIAH. Ideologically, the Indian Government, the present 

government, the Congress Coalition of Government, is committed 

for reservation for private sector. Ideologically it is committed. The 

President Anwar’s speech mentioned it, the government’s common 

agenda. All party government common agenda talks about providing quota in the private sector. 

But the Indian industry is not willing to cooperate with the government, therefore there is a hassle, in fact, going on. So if certain 

47

companies of America, on their own, with the kind of consent, start 

opening up certain quotas, the Indian Government should welcome 

this, it will welcome it. 

Mr. RAJ. They will welcome it. 

Mr. ILAIAH. Ideologically, it is committed. 

Mr. TANCREDO. All right, thank you so much for your very, I 

think, profound and provocative testimony. I am sure that it will 

go a long wy to helping us form legislation that at least will be designed to be helpful, and thank you again for being here today. I 

appreciate all of your participation. 

[Whereupon, at 3:55 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]

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